The greenhouse effect

ESTELLINE, S.D. — Custom calf raiser Kyle Verhoek is expanding his farm capacity with calf comfort as a top priority by building a 40- by 320-foot monoslope barn for his calf-raising operation. The new barn for post-weaned calves is mostly complete, with a few final pieces left to be done.

Verhoek currently raises about 1,000 milk calves, plus 3,000 post-weaned calves on his farm near Estelline. Dairy calves arrive at the farm at 24 hours old. After the calves grow to be 500 pounds, they move to a grower where they are bred before returning to their respective dairy farm.

Verhoek’s new barn will include steel hydraulic doors with clear poly sheets on the south side of the barn.

“When there is a really cold day, the paneling will still allow the sunlight to shine onto the calves,” Verhoek said.

Verhoek and his dad got their inspiration for the barn after visiting a friend in Minnesota who raises sheep who had a hydraulic greenhouse-type door.

“Our friend had a small 4-foot-long door over their sheep feeder,” he said. “We wanted to upscale the idea to fit the whole side of the barn.”

Verhoek also consulted with other farmers who own monoslope barns. A main concern was the wind blowing over the roof and coming back in as a draft.

“With our barn only 40 feet deep, the draft onto the small calves is not a good thing,” Verhoek said. “If we could close that off, the calves would be warmer and less stressed.”

Verhoek said he considered curtains and other options before settling on the hydraulic doors.

“Curtains would decrease the draft, but they would not let the sunlight in,” he said. “As well, the life expectancy is not as long as the steel, and they also would not seal as tight.”

Verhoek said the hydraulic doors are more expensive initially, but he is hoping the quality of calf care and decrease of feed waste will justify the expense.

The new barn will have small pens with a capacity to hold 10 calves in each. Feed bunks will be lined up along the south side of the barn as well.

Operation of the hydraulic doors will be accessible via a tablet or phone.

“I will be able to hit a button while driving the mixer wagon tractor, and as I finish feeding, the doors will close as I drive past them,” Verhoek said.

The barn’s feed bunks will be protected from the seasonal elements.

“The overhead cost of the feed and not having to scoop out all of the wasted feed every time it rains or snows will really help on savings too,” Verhoek said.

Verhoek started raising calves while he was in high school. During the coronavirus pandemic, he decided to increase his capacity.

“We started with beef calves, but to get the magnitude that we wanted to be at, raising dairy calves is the only thing that allows us to do that,” Verhoek said.

Verhoek uses straw for bedding and each calf has a blanket for warmth in the winter months.

“Calves are blanketed for a minimum of three weeks; by that time, they are eating grain and if temperatures are mild, we will take the coats off,” Verhoek said.

Verhoek feeds calves milk for 10 weeks before transitioning them to group pens.

“We do keep the calves on milk longer, with 24% protein and 20% fat, and if the weather is colder, we will increase the fat,” Verhoek said.

Calf starter grain is also available for the calves right away.

“The calves just nibble on it the first two weeks, but we want to make sure it is available,” Verhoek said.

Verhoek uses a mixture of corn, oats, a dairy pellet, soybeans and a homemade molasses mixture for his calf starter.

Once the calves are 10 weeks old, they move from individual pens to group pens of 10 calves. They stay in the small group pens until they are 350 pounds, then move to larger pens outside to grow more before they move to the next raiser.

“I like the smaller group pens because there is less competition for the calves and you can see 10 calves better than a large number of calves, especially if there is one lying in the back corner,” Verhoek said.

Winter brings challenges to Verhoek of maintaining milk temperature and having extra staff on hand.

“We make sure the milk is not too hot or too cold for the small calves and have staff checking calves more often,” Verhoek said. “Within a few hours a calf might get chilled and start going downhill. You can never have too many sets of eyes over everything.”

As the calves reach 500 pounds, before they are transported to the grower farm, Verhoek has their lungs scored by a veterinarian using ultrasound. Lungs are scored from 1-5, with 1 as the best.

“We are noticing a calf with a good lung score grows better and at the first lactation, their milk output is better as well,” Verhoek said. “As well, we want to know when the heifers left our yard and moved to the next facility, they were healthy and had good lungs.”

Verhoek’s entire management system plays a part in his success: milk available for a longer time, smaller pen sizes and calves housed in a low-stress barn. Verhoek said these factors ensure the quality of animals leaving his farm.