What’s Happening Episode #03 – Hot Hutches

I took this picture at the Western Tennessee Experiment Station in Martin, Tennessee in about 1996.  Where is Martin, Tennessee, you ask?  Well, let’s go there!

It was summer and these calves were resting in hutches under the trees at the edge of a pasture.  I thought this was interesting, because placing hutches under trees is not a common location on most farms.

So, what’s happening?  These hutches, which are translucent, allow light to penetrate the hutch and heat up the inside.  Inside the hutches, the temperatures became unbearable.  Something of a sauna in there…

To keep these calves more comfortable, the farm staff moved these hutches under the trees to shade them from the sun. Without the sun, the hutches were more comfortable for the calves.

While the calves were more comfortable under the trees, it became more difficult to feed and monitor the calves.  Fortunately, this was a small herd, and workers didn’t have a lot of calves to manage.

So, Plastic hutches may be translucent, like the one we see here, or opaque, which don’t allow light to enter the hutch.  In winter, translucent hutches may have an advantage, but generally, opaque hutches are preferable to translucent ones. 

Here is a photo from Washington State University with some translucent hutches under shade. Other attempts to reduce transmission of light include painting, covering with aluminum films, though these efforts may not be practical on most farms.  The most effective approach may be to replace translucent hutches with opaque ones and provide adequate ventilation and water.

Here are a few resources to learn more about managing calf housing in the summer.  Feel free to stop the video and use the QR code to visit each site. The first is from the University of Wisconsin and deals with calf housing systems.  The second, from Dairy Herd Management, provides some great summer calf protocols. 

Remember, calves crave comfort! Hot hutches can impair calf comfort, growth, and welfare. 

Supplemental shade for calf hutches can be an effective way to improve calf comfort and reduce stress.  Whether the shade is via trees, fabric shade structures, or other approaches, reducing stress in the summer is a worthy goal. Well, that’s it for today.  Thanks for watching and see you next time!

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