Calf Saver Warming Cart

Calf Saver warming cart LIVESTOCK Health 10-4-8 "We haven't lost a single new-born calf since we started using this cart 2 years ago," says Mary Ann Hecht about her and her husband Donald's calf-warming cart. The sides and bottom are made from ¢-in. plywood. The bottom is reinforced by an underlying piece of steel roofing. The plywood floor has 1-in. holes drilled into it to allow heat from an electric heater to rise up, warming and drying the calf from the bottom up in cold weather. Two 12-in. wheels in front make the cart mobile when the back end is lifted with the handles. The back endgate slides up and out so the calf can be loaded and unloaded without any lifting. A piece of 3/4-in. pvc pipe is cut in half and fastened vertically at the back end to hold the sliding gate in place. A 1 by ?-in. steel bar is bolted to the top of the cart at the back to reinforce sides. "We cover the cart with a piece of clear plastic to hold heat in. This has worked well for us when cows freshen in free stall barns before we can get them switched to maternity pens. If the calf is real dirty, it's hosed off in the parlor with warm water and placed in the cart to warm and dry, then taken out to our solar calf shed," says Mary Ann. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mary Ann Hecht, Rt. 1, Box 171, Cumberland, Wis. 54829 (ph 715 822-8701).

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