Home-Built Calf Shelter Doubles As A Greenhouse

Home-Built Calf Shelter Doubles As A Greenhouse LIVESTOCK Dairy (17) 23-4-33 FARM SHOW readers might be interested in the calf shelter I built that doubles as a greenhouse. We start calving in mid-February and need protection for calves in late winter. Our area is known for frosts as late as June and as early as mid-August, which can ruin a lot of hard work that goes into a garden. So it seemed to make sense to combine the two ideas to get extra use out of the shelter. It's 7 ft. wide by 28 ft. long with a roof that slopes from 7 ft. high in front to 6 ft. in back. Skids made out of 4 in. dia. pipe make it easy to move around. I used 2 3/8-in. tubing to build the framework, and bolted 2 by 6's to it. Tin covers the sides and back. The roof and two feet on the front are covered with translucent coroplast that I bought in 4 by 8-ft. sheets at our local lumberyard. I use two bars in front of the shelter to keep cows out when we're using it as a shelter. When we're finished calving, I pull it to the garden to protect our tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and celery. We close up the shelter for garden use with four hinged doors I made out of 2 by 2's and covered with coroplast. Works great and cost only about $600 to build. (Mike Wert, Box 22, Frenchman Butte, Sask., Canada S0M 0W0; ph 306 344-2307)

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