What Size Pens Do You Need To Raise Calves

To achieve this goal, the facility must:

produce replacement heifers that are set to breed at 13 to fifteen months of age;
provide a comfortable, healthy environment for calves and heifers;
provide a convenient working environment for the operator. A complete calf and heifer raising facility must run across a number of other requirements from an beast'south birth to freshening.

The newborn calf represents the highest genetic potential for milk production on a well-managed farm. Therefore, the care given in raising this animal should be consistent with its high value. A multifariousness of methods and facilities tin can be used to raise a replacement dairy animal. Facilities can be old structures or new facilities, elaborate or elementary. Withal, they must provide a management and housing organisation that allows the dairyman to consistently produce healthy replacement animals on a year-round footing.

There are seven groupings in a housing organisation based on the age of the calf or heifer. The needs of these groups vary co-ordinate to direction, feeding, and health requirements. Groups may be housed separately or combined in the same facility. The age groupings are:

Grouping I - zero to two months old, single pen or stall
Group two - two to four months old, weaning pen with three to five calves the same age
Group 3 - four to six months old, diversity of housing choices
Group iv - six to nine months old, diverseness of housing choices
Group 5 - nine to twelve months erstwhile, variety of housing choices
Group six - twelve to 18 months former, variety of housing choices
Group 7 - eighteen months to calving, diverseness of housing choices

A growing beast'south needs change with historic period. Various age groups will not always contain the same number of animals. A flexible arrangement that will accommodate changing requirements in management, housing, feeding, and overall animal intendance is a must. The number of groups housed on an individual farm depends on facilities and, more than important, on the number of animals. Groups 4 through 7 may be combined in one form or another when the total number of heifers is small.

Maternity Pen

A well-designed and properly managed maternity pen or area is necessary to a good calf and heifer management programme. A grassy pasture area, maintained exclusively for calving, makes a very satisfactory motherhood area during warm weather, but atmospheric condition conditions in Pennsylvania dictate that indoor maternity pens be used for a large function of the year. A maternity pen should:

exist divide from other animals;
be clean and well bedded, preferably with straw;
accept slip resistant floor;
exist a minimum of 12 feet by 12 feet in size;
have a stanchion to restrain the animal and a lifting ring;
have drinking water available.

A carve up motherhood pen should be provided for every xx to 25 mature cows. These maternity pens should not be routinely used for treating or holding sick animals. In the upshot a maternity pen is used to treat a sick animal, the area should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before existence used for calving.

A motherhood pen should exist large enough to allow cow and calf movement and to permit. access to the moo-cow in the event of complications. A pen approximately 12 anxiety by 12 anxiety allows space for the cow and calf, and facilitates treatment when necessary. The brute can easily be restrained by a stanchion placed on i side of the pen. A lifting band or like device, centered over the pen, should be provided to assistance· "downer" cows. Gates and doors must be wide enough (vi feet or more) to admit power equipment into the area for cleaning or removal of downed animals.

Maternity pens should exist carve up from the milking herd or other immature calves. This is best achieved in a separate facility. It likewise can be a closed-off surface area in the same facility provided it has its ain ventilation system.

Group ane (calves under two months of age)

Special provisions should be made to get babe calves off to a good outset. To minimize illness transmission, they should be separated from older animals in dry out and draft-gratuitous living quarters, designed to facilitate easy feeding and regular observation.

General requirements for calves under two months on predominately liquid diets are:

individual hou.sing for each calf;
isolation from older animals;
well-ventilatd but draft-free quarters;
dry pens with ample bedding;
suitable location to encourage regular ascertainment;
pens designed so the dairy farmer tin conveniently work in the area;
pens easily cleaned and sanitized between employ.

Several types of housing tin can be used to meet these requirements. These include individual calf hutches, solar or gang calf hutches, and floor pens with solid sides in well-ventilated buildings. Experience indicates that proper ventilation is much more than of import to calf health than warm temperatures. Therefore, select a housing system that provides good ventilation twelvemonth-round. Naturally ventilated "cold housing" is excellent for maintaining practiced calf health. Calf hutches or solar hutches are first-class considering they provide their own suitable ventilation arrangement. Flooring level pens can be used in common cold barns that are properly ventilated. If natural ventilation openings cannot exist provided, exhaust fans may be necessary.

Insulated, heated, mechanically ventilated dogie barns are not recommended. They cost more to build and operate correctly than "cold housing" systems. Increased sickness and management bug outweigh perceived benefits of warmer temperatures provided by this housing arrangement.

Group 2 (calves two to 4 months old)

This period in a calfs life is besides critical for good growth. A small group housing facility for three to five calves should be provided for a postweaning menstruum of at last 1 month. The housing and environmental conditions should be similar to the babe dogie facility and preferably be located in the same expanse to minimize stress on the calf acquired past changes in living· arrangements. Placement with the null to two months-erstwhile calves allows for regular feeding and observation of the two groups. Such an arrangement also minimizes calf stress at this early age. Housing for this age group can include big group hutches, sometimes called super hutches, located next to the calf hutch area, or an open up front shed. Buildings with individual pens for baby calves should as well accept a group pen at to the lowest degree 12 feet by 12 anxiety to house iii to five postweaning calves. Whether grouping hutch or within pen, the weaning area should provide:

continuously available frostproof h2o;
at to the lowest degree 18 inches of bunk infinite for each dogie with stanchions or dividers to define individual eating areas;
ample bedding and protection from drafts;
a location to encourage regular ascertainment;
like shooting fish in a barrel mechanical cleaning.

Group 3 through 7 (heifers 5 months sometime to calving)

Once the calf is well adapted to group living and is eating from community feed bunks and waterers, there are a variety of choices available for housing. The main requirements for these age groups are dictated by the increased space needed as the fauna gets older, changes in rations, herd health, convenance, and observation. The degree of shelter required decreases with historic period.

A housing facility for heifers from five months to freshening must provide:

group past historic period and size for each grouping;
ease of movement of animals from one grouping to another;
ease of observation;
feeding by historic period groups as necessary;
restraint facilities for treatment and breeding;
user-friendly manure removal and bedding as necessary;
continually available frostproof water;
good natural ventilation.

These requirements are all-time met by a series of free stall areas, bedded packs, or pens along a feed bunk. Three housing types usually used in Pennsylvania are gated free stall barns, gated bedded packs, and gated counter-slope barns. On many farms, existing buildings and sheltered pastures may too exist used to quarter some or all of the groups.

The advantages of single barn grouping include efficient chore patterns, ease in moving animals from grouping to grouping within the barn, and better, more consistent ascertainment. However, if good usable facilities are available at unlike locations, this method also can be adequate so long as safe and convenient motility of animals between locations is possible.

When using existing facilities, make sure they are suitable for normal heifer growth. Inconvenient, poorly ventilated, moisture laden structures tin result in poor heifer growth, more health bug, and increased labor. Converting existing facilities for heifer housing tin often cost more than than planned. As well, repair and upkeep costs can be a financial burden. Locating animals that require regular ascertainment in remote locations tin reduce productivity. When because renovation of an old building for heifer housing, evaluate its location, condition, and size. The most difficult step in renovation of an sometime building is making a realistic judgment of the value of the building and how much to spend. Information technology is important to remember that, even after extensive, plush renovation, the facility may still be inconvenient and outdated.

Calf Hutches

For Pennsylvania conditions, individual 4 feet by 8 feet calf hutches provide highly satisfactory housing for babe calves. The private calf hutch is a minor, completely open front structure in which one baby calf is raised from zero to near two months of age or until weaning. The dogie is restrained in the calf hutch area past either a fenced-in front m or by a short concatenation tether. The most common and successful dogie hutches are made from plywood, fiberglass, or other solid materials, and are roughly viii feet deep, four anxiety wide, and 4 feet high. Fenced-in exercise areas are usually the width of the hutch and iv anxiety to eight feet long and are located in front of the hutch. During absurd or cold weather, it is of import that the sidewalls and back of the hutch be completely air tight to prevent drafts from bravado through the hutch. During the hot summer, hutches with small ventilation panels that open in the dorsum appear to be more than comfortable for the calf. If a back opening is provided, it is disquisitional that it exist closed tightly during the winter.

The hutch should be placed on a dry, elevated area to exclude surface h2o. Often a base of sand or gravel is necessary to attain this. Lightweight hutches should exist anchored to prevent current of air from blowing them over. Normally, the hutch faces southward to permit the winter dominicus to penetrate equally much as possible. The hutch should not be placed where older animals can have admission to the calves or nearly frazzle fans from dairy barns. The hutch should exist well bedded with straw, shavings, or other suitable cloth. Hay and grain should be placed just inside the front section of the hutch to keep these materials dry. A rack to hold a small bucket is best for grain feeding, and provides for easy feeding, cleaning, and sanitizing. A 2d bucket rack located outside the hutch, usually on the pen argue, can be used for liquid feeding. Locating the feeding area to the front end and outside the hutch helps reduce bedding maintenance.

When a calf is moved to another housing system, the hutch should be tipped, and all manure cleaned from surfaces, likewise equally the expanse beneath it. Washing and disinfecting the hutch gives boosted protection from the spread of illness from one calf to another. If the calf hutch is to be used immediately, information technology should exist moved to some other location, to allow the original area to dry.

Surface h2o drainage bug around the site and blowing or drifting snow must exist considered when deciding on the location of a calf hutch. Information technology should be placed in an area near where dogie feed is prepared and stored, as well as convenient for regular observation.

Hutches for private calves should be placed on a dry out, elevated base of sand or gravel. A fenced in front chiliad or curt concatenation tether holds the dogie. Provide a bucket rack for two pails, one for liquid, the other for grain. The hutch should also include a hay rack.

Solar or Gang Dogie Hutch

Some other blazon of self-contained portable housing for baby calves is a solar hutch. This edifice is a portable sideslip-mounted unit, usually containing three to five private dogie pens, 3 feet to 4 feet wide, and approximately 7 feet deep. The open front and the low sloping roof allows penetration of sunlight during the winter months, and provides shade from the hot summertime sunday.

As in the case of individual hutches, the solar hutch should exist located on an elevated base of sand or gravel to exclude surface water. Placement should forestall blowing snow from entering the structure. In areas with high winds it is advisable to tie the unit of measurement down with stakes or guy wires.

The divider walls betwixt each dogie within the hutch must be made of solid fabric and extend across the front end feeding expanse to prevent concrete contact between calves. Admission to the pen is provided by a removable front gate that also serves equally a feeding unit of measurement. The front gate tin can be made to hold buckets for liquid feed and grain. The hay rack tin can be placed on the side of the pen, or incorporated in the front gate.

In astringent cold weather, a removable cover can be placed over the back 3 anxiety to 4 anxiety of the calf pens within the solar hutch for more protection. In summertime atmospheric condition, the meridian eight inches of the back wall swings down to provide cross ventilation for the calves. When using a solar hutch be sure the area between the skids on both ends is plugged with bedding to prevent cross drafts.

After calves have "graduated" from the hutch, information technology can exist either tipped on its backside or skidded to another location to allow for cleanup of the base area and interior scraping and washing. If the hutch is to be reused immediately, information technology may be desirable to skid it to a new clean and dry out location.

Solar hutches provide more than protection for the calf feeder but have the flexibility of a portable system. The number of pens within each solar hutch tends to dictate the number of calves weaned and moved at whatsoever one time. Farmers raising small numbers of calves should apply hutches with fewer pens per unit. Calves tin can be removed at the aforementioned time and the entire hutch cleaned and disinfected for reuse.

The roof on this gang of individual dogie hutches allows wintertime sunlight to warm the dogie and protects the operator during feeding. One calf is housed in each four' by seven' section. Solid sides prevent contact betwixt calves.

Inside Pens

A very satisfactory facility for raising baby calves can be provided by placing portable solid-sided individual dogie pens inside a building for shelter from wind, pelting, and snowfall. New buildings tin be synthetic for this purpose or existing machine sheds, hay storage barns, or other farm buildings can be used. The principal criteria are that they exist well ventilated to prevent buildup of wet and condensation, and that they provide for user-friendly calf intendance and cleanup. Each calf pen should be a minimum of iv feet by 6 feet. A 4 feet by 8 anxiety pen is preferable. The pen should take three solid sides and a partially open front to allow for feeding and too to prevent stale air from being trapped within the pen. As in the case of solar hutches, the pen fronts and sides should be designed to prevent physical contact between calves.

A iv' by 8' individual pen that can exist easily disassembled for cleaning can be used in a variety of new or existing barns, particularly those that are cold and well ventilated. The solid sides protect the caff from drafts. The slatted forepart prevents foul air from existence trapped in the pen. Buckets for liquid and solid feed are located outside for like shooting fish in a barrel access and to minimize contamination by manure.

The pens should be of a modular construction then they may be easily disassembled and removed for cleaning. Portable pens that can exist disassembled and cleaned so used in some other location, allow the barn to remain vacant for extended periods of-time to help control disease buildup. Barns and pens should be cleaned as soon as calves are removed and immune to stand idle for as long as possible.

As in a hutch, the calf can find the location within the pen that is well-nigh comfy for her. Removable covers tin can exist placed over the rear three to 4 feet during extremely common cold conditions. Feeding fronts and provision for feeding hay can exist similar to those used with solar hutches. Two pail holders should be provided, one to concord grain, the other for liquid feed. A hay rack should be available as well.

When designing new structures or renovating old ones, provide plenty space and then a tractor tin can easily exist used to clean under pens.

Various modifications of these calf housing systems are commonly quite successful, provided the basic principles of each arrangement are maintained.

A heated utility area for feed preparation and cleaning utensils should exist located near the inside pens. If a special barn is constructed for calf raising, consider locating a small insulated room within the barn to contain the hot water tank, wash sink, calf replacer, medicines, and records. Windows accordingly placed in this utility room tin allow observation of the calf feeding area.

Weaning Pens

At least 1 weaning pen should be located in buildings where calves are started. The weaning pen should be a minimum of 12 feet past 12 anxiety and accessible for mechanical cleanout. If more than five calves are probable to exist weaned per month, more ane pen will be necessary. Its location should permit proficient ventilation and prevent drafts. In many cases, it is advisable that the pen have 2 to three solid sides at calf level. Continuously bachelor fresh water and a feed bunk should be located on ane side or corner of the pen to separate the dirtier feeding and watering areas from the bedding surface area. For most feeding and direction systems, it is important that all calves be able to eat from the feed bunk at the same time. Therefore, allow 18 inches of feed bunk per dogie, with dividers or stanchions to minimize pushing and crowding by the more ambitious animals. Hay may be fed in the feed bunk or from a separate hay rack, depending on personal selection.

A 12' by 12' pen almost individual dogie pens provides piece of cake transition for weaned calves. Solid sides around the resting surface area reduce drafts. Feed and h2o should be located forth the open side away from the resting surface area. Place only 3 to 5 calves in the pen to minimize crowding and competition for feed.

If lockups are not provided along the feed bunk, at least ane self-locking stanchion should exist conveniently located for creature restraint.

Grouping Hutch Weaning

A large skid-mounted open-front end shed viii feet to 10 feet wide by 12 anxiety to 16 feet long makes a very satisfactory group weaning facility, especially when calf hutches are used. An exterior one thousand is also desirable. Animals in the group hutch should accept access to continuously available fresh running water and 18 inches of feed bunk space per dogie. Locating the feeding unit of measurement and waterer in the outside yard will assist keep bedding in better condition. Place a cover over the outside feeders to maintain feed quality and encourage eating in inclement weather.

For cleaning between weaning groups, skid the hutch to one side, wash thoroughly, and remove the manure pack. The hutch and front yard should exist elevated from surrounding surfaces to allow for good drainage. When convenient, change hutch and chiliad locations between groups. Water may freeze in the large portable hutches. This problem can be eliminated by installing a frostproof waterer with a surrounding concrete pad. Portable fences and gates tin exist manipulated to service more than than 1 hutch or hutch location.

Since the animals in the weaning pen are larger and have a fair amount of costless space, a restraint facility should be provided to concur the animal for examinations and veterinary treatment. Argue line feeders with stanchions tin encounter this need. A uncomplicated organization of hinged gates located on one side and front of the hutch tin also provide sufficient restraint for animal care.

Open Front Shed

An open front shed, with or without an exercise yard, is another satisfactory facility for weaning calves. The shed might be a specially synthetic building, a renovated shed, or the stop of an existing barn. The requirements for space are the aforementioned equally for weaning pens or group hutches. Adequate ventilation and draft control for both summer and wintertime are a must. The pen should allow access for tractor cleanout. Other housing areas should be available so the weaning pen can be cleaned and left idle for a short time betwixt groups of calves.

A permanent or sideslip-mounted open up front end shed can be used to wean calves from hutches. Sideslip-mounted units tin can exist moved tor cleaning or apply in more than ane place. Frostproof water is required and an practise yard is desirable.

Combination Baby Calf and Weaning Pens

Some farmers develop a baby calf raising facility that can be converted to an appropriate weaning pen. Various units have been developed that can business firm individual baby calves until weaning age, when divider partitions are removed to brand a larger pen for the weaning group. Baby calves crave private housing units of 24 to 32 square anxiety per dogie, with solid sides to protect them from drafts and prevent admission to other animals. The unit of measurement must exist well ventilated to allow for removal of wet and odor buildup from bedded packs. At weaning time, the unit of measurement must provide for grouping living of 3 to v calves that is draft free, dry, and easily bedded, and attainable for mechanical cleanup. Other requirements are continuously available fresh frostproof water and adequate feed space.

Gated Free Stall Barn

Gated free stall barns are popular in Pennsylvania because they can be managed to provide healthy, clean, well-grown heifers with minimum labor and bedding requirements. An alley with two rows of free stalls and a feeding aisle along a feed bunk are constructed parallel to each other. The resulting 2 straight scrape alleys provide for very efficient manure removal, and the continuous feed bunk allows like shooting fish in a barrel feeding. The gratis stall length and width are adjusted to match the age grouping pens specifications. Faux fronts are used to shorten free stalls for younger animals, while maintaining a straight curb line.

Divider gates between groups in both alleys serve to block off cross alleys during cleaning. This arrangement allows the operator to walk through the barn, driving animals to one side or the other, opening the divider gates for cleaning, and, at the aforementioned time, locking in heifers on the other side of the befouled. The gates should be hung on posts set far enough back over alley curbs so the gates, when opened, are protected from the tractor and scraper past the physical curb. Locating waterers in the feed aisle and then two groups can share a single waterer reduces the investment in frostproof waterers. Self-locking stanchions can be placed along the feed bunk for beast restraint. If cocky-locking stanchions are non provided, other allowances for animate being restraint and handling should be made for each group.

It is recommended that gated gratuitous stall barns be "common cold" naturally ventilated barns. This reduces construction costs, makes ventilation system management simpler, and results in good heathy animals. For typical gated gratis stall barns, a 36 feet to forty feet wide befouled with natural ventilation is used. Full capacity is determined by building length. Larger barns may be constructed with two gated free stall arrangements facing each other along a center feed driveway. In either case, continuous open ridges and openings along the eaves on both sidewalls are required. During hot weather, the barn should be open equally much as possible. At a minimum, half of both sidewalls should be opened their entire length. Some of these openings should be at animal level to expose them to cross ventilation on hot, still days.

Manure cleaning in a gated free stall barn is done with a tractor and scraper, Provisions should be fabricated to scrape this manure to a push-off lip or gutter cleaner for direct loading into a spreader or manure storage expanse.

A gated free stall barn provides a convenient facility for calves 4 months of age and older. Gates beyond the barn permit for multiple groups. These same gates, when opened for cleaning, hold animals on one side of the barn Each section must have access to frostproof h2o. Self-locking stanchions forth the feed bunk provide user-friendly animate being restraint.

Gated Bedded Pack Barn

A gated bedded pack befouled is similar to a gated gratis stall befouled, except the rear portion is a bedded pack resting area instead of gratis stalls. A single physical scrape aisle runs along the feed bunk on the front side of the bedded pack. Gates and partitions that separate the animals into groups are arranged so that the gates can be opened to scrape the feed alley and likewise block the heifers on the bedded pack. The feeding and watering area should be located forth the physical scrape aisle to let for convenient and regular cleaning and reduce bedding apply. Many farmers construct a barn with the dimensions of a gated free stall barn, and then begin with a bedded pack system.

If this arrangement is not satisfactory at a subsequently engagement, information technology tin exist converted easily to a gated complimentary stall arrangement. Approximately 30 to l square anxiety of bedded surface area are required for each animal in a bedded pack barn. The size may vary according to the age of the animal. Approximately vii to 9 feet should exist allowed for the scrape alley. Since the bedded pack builds up with use, it is of import that cross partitions and gates have adaptable hinges and mountings and then they can exist raised as the bedded pack becomes deeper. Construct edifice walls around the pack area of concrete or heavy planking wherever manure volition build upwards confronting them. Divider gates on the bedded pack side tin be used during bedded pack cleanout to pen animals in the feed aisle.

A gated bedded pack befouled is inexpensive to build if ample bedding is available. Divider gates and a scrape aisle forth the teed bunk let regular cleaning and prolong bedding life. Frostproof water should be located along the scrape aisle. Self-locking stanchions forth the feed bunk make animal restraint convenient.

Counter Slope Housing

A counter slope heifer facility is a modification of the bedded pack system. It is normally placed in an open forepart edifice that covers a sloped concrete resting expanse along a single scrape aisle. Proper orientation allows sunlight to enter the resting surface area during winter months. Animal traffic works the manure off the resting area into the scrape alley. The resting area and feed bunk frock are sloped i to 2 inches per foot toward the aisle. This organization requires no bedding if properly managed. Some operators, nonetheless, choose to use slight amounts of bedding for the youngest animals or during severe conditions. Since no bedding is normally used, animals are oft much dirtier than those housed in other facilities. Feel has shown no adverse effects on animal health or growth charge per unit from lack of bedding. The layout of this organization does non allow easy access to the resting area for bedding or mechanical cleaning. Therefore, an operator who chooses to do this defeats the purpose of the barn and has a labor intensive and inefficient unit of measurement. A covered feed bunk is located on the other side of the scrape alley. Equally in the case of the resting surface area, the floor is sloped so animal traffic works manure into the scrape alley.

A counters/ope barn is designed for use without bedding. The resting and feeding areas slope towards a manure scrape alley. Brute traffic works the manure into the a/fey. Dividing gates swing open up to hold animals in the resting area while the alley is being scraped. Orientation allows sunlight to warm the resting area during winter. Since no bedding is used and there is always some manure in the resting area, animals are often dirty.

Low, solid partitions are used to divide the resting area for desired groupings. Flooring to ceiling partitions for the youngest group volition provide additional protection. Swinging gates across the scrape alley and feed apron go on animals separated into groups. When' opened for scraping, the gates hold the animals in the resting area. Manure can exist removed by a tractor-scraper forth the alley, through a slatted floor in the alley for underfloor storage, or past flushing, gravity gutter, or mechanical scraper.

Group Pens

When using existing facilities, it is sometimes necessary to use animals in grouping pens with no admission to outside yards or feed bunks. The pens are bedded with feed bunks along ane side. When group pens must be used, they should exist designed according to creature size and number to exist in the pen at any given time. In full general, a bedded pen is not recommended because of high bedding and labor requirements. If possible, inside pens should be designed in a rectangular course, providing a divers feeding expanse on ane end and a resting expanse on the other. This system will tend to keep the resting area cleaner and, with proper gate location, can go a miniature version of a gated pack barn, allowing animals to be held on one side while the other side is cleaned.

Shelters and Pastures

Three-sided open forepart bedded barns or mounds and windbreaks can exist used while pasturing older animals. In most situations, provisions for supplemental feeding must exist made. Portable hay racks and silage bunks, a concrete slab with argue line feed bunk, or mechanical bunks shared past older cows can be used.

Programme Alee

Before designing and/or building your ain dogie and heifer facilities, make sure you empathize the advantages and disadvantages of each system. Visit some of the facilities in your area and seek the advice of dairymen who currently use these structures. Plan alee or you may end up with a system that does not work well for your needs.

Calf and Heifer Housing Plans available from the county Extension Office or 204 Agronomical Engineering Building, The Pennsylvania State Academy, Academy Park, PA 16802

723-214 Calf Hutch With Movable Paddock
723-219 Solar Calf Kennel
723-505 Group Calf Hutch
723-506 Minnesota Super Calf Hutch
723-202 Heifer Befouled-Gated Free Stall
723-204 Heifer Barn-Gratis Stall (gutter cleaner)
723-201 Heifer Barn Loose Housing
723-388 Youngstock Housing Facility (counter-sloped)
NRAES FS-34 Naturally Ventilated Dairy Cattle Housing Guideline

Dogie and Heifer Housing Requirements
Group*	Age	Max. Animals Per Grouping	Max. Age Spread in Group	Max. Weight Variation in Group	Min. Pen or Pack Area Per Animal	Min. Feed Bunk Length Per Beast⁺	Suggested Free Stall Width	Suggested Free Stall Length	H2o	Restraint Facilities
*Groups four to 7 may be combined in one form or some other when the total number of heifers is small. When selecting which groups to combine, consider feeding requirements, management needs, and size or age of animals. ⁺Feed space per animal may be reduced approximately xx percentage in groups over 6 months of historic period if total mixed rations are fed.
ane	0-2 months	one			24-32 ft²	-Individual Grain Pail -Hay Rack	Not Recommended	Not Recommended	Individual Pail
ii	2-4 months	3-5	3 weeks		xxx ft²	xviii inches with Dividers	Not Recommended	Not Recommended	Always Available Frostproof Water	Stanchion
3	4-half dozen months	6-12	2 months	75 lbs	30 ft²	15 inches	27 inches	48 inches		Cocky-Closing Fenceline or Chute and Stanchion or Headgate
4	6-9 months	10-20	3 months	150 lbs	30 ft²	15 inches	30 inches	54 inches
v	9-12 months	x-20	three months	200 lbs	thirty ft²	eighteen inches	34 inches	threescore inches
6	12-18 months	10-20	6 months	300 lbs	40 ft²	20 inches	38 inches	72 inches
7	xviii months to calving	x-20	half dozen months	300 lbs	twoscore ft²	22 inches	42 inches	84 inches