First year heifer housing

[Wharryyy]

Is anyone running first year heifers on slats? Or is this just a disaster for 3 teeters down the line? Better to go the extra money and put in small cubicles? Heifers from 6-12 months of age

 

[SolwayFarmer]

Is anyone running first year heifers on slats? Or is this just a disaster for 3 teeters down the line? Better to go the extra money and put in small cubicles? Heifers from 6-12 months of age

Tried it and not great. Encourages them to lay down in the muck at a later stage and harder to get to use cubicles.. Converted a small slatted shed into cubicles for 6-12 months. Used 2nd hand precast beds with new divisions and rubber mats. Just sat on top of slats. Great job for teaching them to lay up in cubicles and little or no work with them. We don’t need to scrape the slats very often and with having the cubicles the right size they don’t seem to dirty the beds.
Going to do another batch of smaller ones for 2/3 months up to 6 months.

 

[coomoo]

Tried it and not great. Encourages them to lay down in the muck at a later stage and harder to get to use cubicles.. Converted a small slatted shed into cubicles for 6-12 months. Used 2nd hand precast beds with new divisions and rubber mats. Just sat on top of slats. Great job for teaching them to lay up in cubicles and little or no work with them. We don’t need to scrape the slats very often and with having the cubicles the right size they don’t seem to dirty the beds.
Going to do another batch of smaller ones for 2/3 months up to 6 months.

The holy grail for heifers right there

 

[Wharryyy]

Tried it and not great. Encourages them to lay down in the muck at a later stage and harder to get to use cubicles.. Converted a small slatted shed into cubicles for 6-12 months. Used 2nd hand precast beds with new divisions and rubber mats. Just sat on top of slats. Great job for teaching them to lay up in cubicles and little or no work with them. We don’t need to scrape the slats very often and with having the cubicles the right size they don’t seem to dirty the beds.
Going to do another batch of smaller ones for 2/3 months up to 6 months.

Thanks for the reply. That looks an impressive set up for the job. What spacing do you have the hoops at?

 

[SolwayFarmer]

Thanks for the reply. That looks an impressive set up for the job. What spacing do you have the hoops at?

Thanks. 36 inch centres. The divisions are bolted onto rails so the width could be easily adjusted but we’ve got on well with them set at 36 inch. Will stay in here until 12 months then move into slightly larger beds.