The accommodation of your young stock is of vital importance. There is plenty to take into account. 

• Make sure there is sufficient straw. Only use clean and dry straw. Muck out the straw compartments regularly. This avoids the straw overheating, which can result in major temperature fluctuations.
• Is your straw compartment large? Make sure there is a sheltered area where young calves can lie. For example create a ‘ceiling’ by placing bales of straw on beams which are then installed on the dividing walls in the straw compartments. The result is a sort of ‘hut’ that will prevent your calves cooling down and draught and cold air descending from above.  
• Do not place calves with a large age difference together (a maximum age difference of two weeks). The natural resistance of young animals is still underdeveloped, so older animals can spread diseases.  

It is essential that you first (thoroughly) clean the calf cubicle before disinfecting them (among others for crypto) to reduce the infection load and the risk of disease.

• Leaving the cubicle empty and sunlight are valuable additional tools. Outside air and sunlight also have a disinfecting effect.

And what about hygiene in the calving pen? If a new-born calf ends up with its nose in a pile of dung, you can clean and disinfect as much as you like, but it will have started off with a disadvantage in terms of health.

Draughts in the cattle shed are the biggest threat to the health of your calves. 

• Using windbreak mesh, create a large hut in the calf pens. The result is a sort of igloo that prevents draughts affecting the pen. 
• Prevent acute air displacement! Regularly test with smoke to determine the volume of air displacement. If there is too much air movement, install windbreak mesh. 

Young life benefits from warmth. It is therefore of life-saving importance that young calves be kept at the right temperature. 

• Place a towel covered by a blanket on the back of a wet new-born calf. After an hour, the towel can easily be removed from under the blanket. The moisture will have drawn into the towel, and the calf will be dry, beneath a dry blanket. Keep the calf extra warm for the first two weeks in this way. 
• You can shave the back of older calves. This helps prevent sweating. 
• Avoid the temperature in the cattle shed falling too low; keep a close eye on your calves, and in case of doubt never think ‘I’ll wait and see’: immediately check the calf’s temperature and if necessary take measures.  

Watch the video of Johan Verdaasdonk, young stock specialist for Kalvolac about different housing situations of calves.