Calf Shelter Has A Built-In Windbreak

Calf Shelter Has A Built-In Windbreak BUILDINGS Livestock 27-6-40 Often faced with bad weather at calving time, James Meier, Luseland, Sask., decided to build a calf shelter with its own built-in windbreak. "The windbreak keeps the wind from blowing down right in front of the shelter and provides cows with more protection from the wind than a conventional calf shelter. As a result, cows stay close to their calves instead of running off somewhere else to get out of the wind. The cows can lay down in front of the shelter while the calves stay inside it," says Meier. The calf shelter consists of an oil pipe frame covered with sheet metal and measures 24 ft. long by 9 ft. deep. It's 5 ft. high at the top, but a horizontal metal pipe across the front restricts access height to about 3 1/2 ft.. The windbreak extends about 3 ft. above the shelter's roof and is made from a series of vertical 1 by 6's spaced 1 1/2 in. apart. The 1 by 6's are nailed to a series of horizontal 2 by 6's that bolt onto vertical pipes. The building mounts on metal skids and has no floor. Meier has built a total of four shelters, which he set together in pairs end to end. "We've used them for five years and they really work good," he says. "Some of our cows calve in mid-March. If there's a storm and a cow delivers her calf before we get there, the calf can crawl into the shelter where it's not as likely to get stepped on. My total cost was less than $1,500." Meier also uses 1 by 6's to make 8-ft. high portable windbreaks on skids. Each windbreak measures 32 ft. long. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, James Meier, Box 163, Luseland, Sask., Canada S0L 2A0 (ph 306 372-4732).

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