Traveling Cowtails: New Calf Barn!

In my farm travels, I work with some great people.  I am now bringing my video camera wherever I go.  Anytime I see something worth taping... I am going to do it!  ... WITH permission from the dairy producer.

Wednesday, I visited a dairy that just built a new calf barn.  I'm jealous.  Not only is it great for the calves but it also more user friendly for the person tending to the calves.  With all the crazy weather in Wisconsin, it has been a struggle to get through all the mud and snow!!  It has also been a challenge with the baby calves with pneumonia.  Anytime the weather changes from 30 degrees and 8 inches of snow (last week) to 50 degrees back then up to 75 degrees THEN back down to 30 degrees.. its a perfect recipe for sick babies.  We do our best to keep them dry and healthy!  This dairy farmer said he has not had ANY pneumonia problems in his new barn... great!

Only half of the barn is completed.  The whitish things on the sides are curtains.  They will go up and down depending on the temperature.  In the summertime, curtains will be wide open.  There is also a slant to the roof that allows the sun to shine into the barn during the cold of winter.  The dairyman is going to add a tube down the center of the barn that will constantly exchange fresh air in/out of the building.

There is a "milkhouse" in the barn where there is a hot water heater, a sink and a drying rack.  This allows the calf feeder to properly mix up the milk with warm water, clean and disinfect the buckets, and let the buckets dry... all in a nice little room.  We clean and disinfect the calf buckets just like a mom cleans baby bottles.  Again.. jealous... (I love the colorful buckets)  Maybe they will make me a crazy rack like that.

Here is the video of the calf barn.  This dairy farmer had no idea that crazy Katie was coming with her video camera....  This is how it looks all the time!  Calves are fed 2x a day, usually on a 12 hour interval.  This video was taken at about 11:30 AM and the calves were fed earlier that morning.  Notice how calm they are.  They are very curious of me, but it's almost like they are pissed I have interrupted their naptime!

Loved the barn.  Thank you to the dairy farm family that let me spotlight the new addition to the farm. :)