Comparisons of housing, bedding, and cooling options for dairy calves

Housing, bedding, and summer cooling were management options evaluated. Holstein calves (42 ± 2 kg of body weight) initially 2 to 5 d of age were managed in southwest Ohio in poly hutches or wire mesh pens in a curtain-sided nursery with no supplemental heat. Calves were fed milk replacer (27% crude protein, 17% fat fed at 0.657 kg of dry matter per calf daily), starter (20% crude protein dry matter, textured, fed free-choice), and water (free-choice). Measurements were for 56 d. In trial 1, 28 calves per treatment were bedded with straw and housed in either hutches or nursery pens. This trial was conducted from September to March; the average temperature was 8°C and ranged from −17 to 31°C. In trial 2a, 16 calves per treatment were managed in nursery pens bedded with straw, in nursery pens bedded with sand, or in hutches bedded with sand. This trial was conducted from May to September; the average temperature was 21°C and ranged from 7 to 33°C. In trial 2b, 26 calves per treatment were housed in nursery pens and bedded with straw. This trial was conducted from May to September; the average temperature was 22°C and ranged from 8 to 34°C. One treatment was cooled with fans between 0800 and 1700 h and the other was not. Data were analyzed as repeated measures in a completely randomized block design by trial, with calf as the experimental unit. In trial 3, air in the nursery and calf hutches used above was sampled 35 d apart for calves aged 5 and 40 d. Air in individual hutches on 2 commercial farms was sampled for 5- and 40-d-old calves for 2 hutch types. Air in the multi-calf hutches was sampled for calves of 75 and 110 d of age. Bacterial concentrations of air samples were analyzed (log10) as odds ratios by Proc Logistic in SAS software (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC); differences were declared at P < 0.05. In trial 1, weight gain of calves in nursery pens was 6% greater and feed efficiency was 4% greater than that of calves in hutches. In trial 2a, weight gain and starter intake of calves in the nursery with straw bedding were greater and scouring was less than that in calves bedded with sand in the nursery or hutches. The relative humidity was greater in the hutches than in the nursery pens. In trial 2b, weight gain, feed efficiency, and hip width change were greater and breaths per minute were less for calves cooled with fans compared with calves that were not cooled. In trial 3, airborne bacteria concentrations were greater in the hutches than in the nursery pens. Straw bedding (vs. sand), nursery pens (vs. hutches), and summer daytime cooling with fans improved calf weight gain.