When i was building my calf barn i was looking for a sturdy product that makes it easier to keep an eye on my calves body conditions. The Comfy Calf Suites weren’t flexible or flimsy like the other kinds and they make the calves more visible than hutches.
– Mike Buechel, 50 head calf barn, New Holstein Wisconsin
“The Comfy Calf Suites are light weight, easy to use and clean. Easy to change accessories around and change to group housing as they calves age. Our calf health has improved since installing the Canarm AgSystems pens.”
–Andrea Brossard, 62 head calf barn, Beaver Dam Wisconsin
“[We] Looked at several different options. Settled on the Canarm [Comfy Calf Suites] because they were very easy to assemble, easy to clean, very rugged, calf friendly, a lot of space...The original panels are still in excellent condition. if we clean them up, they look just like new, so we’ve been really happy with them. i really can’t fault them in any way. We’ve been super happy.”
-Greg Busch, Bumble B Dairy, Cuba City Wisconsin
University of Minnesota
After many years of housing calves in outdoor hutches, the University of Minnesota's calf and heifer experts decided to bring operations indoors.
Built in 2004, the site includes two single-trussed, naturally ventilated barns with curtain sides. Each barn has two rooms with space for 40 calves per room or a total of 160 individual indoor calf pens. About eight hundred calves (two to 200 days of age) flow through the facility each year. The calves are owned by commercial dairy operations and eventually join milking herds. About half the animals are subjects in nutrition, management and health studies. However, the university's emphasis is to manage the calves so all information is directly applicable to commercial farms.
Dr. Hugh Chester-Jones (shown in photo), a UM associate professor in animal science who oversees the facility, says his team's selection of Comfy Calf Suites was based on wanting the flexibility to efficiently tear down pens between calf groups and also durability. He says he liked Comfy Calf Suites' solid panel design, built to hold up under wear and tear from calves and every day management. Cleaning ease was also an important factor in choosing this pen design. "It power washes nicely, cleans up well and dries between calf groups," says Dr. Chester-Jones.
Observation is also efficient. "You can walk by very quickly and observe calves in the pens," Dr. Chester-Jones adds. "If there is a calf that is sick, you can easily open up the door and go inside, and look at the calf closely and take its temperature."
With two years of experience with Comfy Calf Suites, Dr. Chester- Jones reports, "It is a very easy pen to manage."
