youngstock
Friday, June 4, 2021 | Country Acres • Page 5
A renewed focus on BY JENNIFER COYNE STAFF WRITER
SWANVILLE – Jared Capko and Renee Hebig can describe their calfraising facility in three words: Clean, convenient and efficient. “We did all of this for healthy calves,” Capko said. “Our death loss is down, and these calves are healthier when they leave this barn.” In the second half of 2020, Capko and his family built a 128-by60 tunnel-ventilated calf barn equipped with four group pens fed with two automatic feeders and 20 individual hutches. Capko milks 300 cows with his dad, Jerry, and uncle, Larry, in Morrison County near Swanville. The family put calves in the barn last November. “We’re getting that consistency now,” said Hebig, calf manager. “We’ve created a system that lets everyone be selfsufficient here, and we’re watching calves succeed.” A feed room is in the center of the barn with individual calf hutches in
PHOTO BY MARK KLAPHAKE
Jared Capko and Renee Hebig stand in the Capkos’ tunnel-ventilated calf barn May 17 near Swanville. The Capkos built the barn this past year to improve calf health and wellbeing.
the middle on the north and south sides of the room. To the east and west are two sets of group pens that are fed with Holm and Laue Calf Experts. A set of three calf hutches are set aside and used for
sick calves or those that do not adapt well to the automated feeders. The barn also includes sloped flooring throughout, with trench drains below each pen to remove excess moisture
as well as fans and side curtains to improve ventilation. Newborn calves are kept in hutches for the first two weeks and then transferred to the group pens until weaned, with
pens designed to house 20 animals each. All youngstock in the barn receive free-choice grain and water. Hebig oversees this group of youngstock on the farm and works closely
with three employees to maintain detailed records of each animal. Calves are monitored through the automated feeder’s computer program which Hebig can look up on her phone, and also tracked with vaccinations and health occurrences via an intricate chart Hebig designed in the feed room. “Our protocol is laid out so it is convenient for everyone,” Hebig said. “We found a way to make calf chores consistent for everybody.” Previously, the Capkos were housing the calves in a naturallyventilated dirt-floor barn and feeding with one automated calf feeder. There were 11 individual hutches near the farm’s maternity and sick cow pen for background calves, and an overflow of youngstock were housed in hutches in the nearby hay shed. The overstocked pens and poor ventilation made it difficult for calves to thrive, said Capko. “We were seeing so
Capko page 6
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