Homemade Portable Pasture Shelter for Calves

Designed/built by Denver, WI, dairyman Jim Wavrunek and son Luke, all sides of their 24-foot-square Homemade Portable Pasture Shelter for Calves use 4-foot-tall wire hog fencing panels welded onto metal tubing for extra strength and interlocked on each corner with a metal pipe. A feed trough with hinged cover is attached to one side, and two 55-gallon drums (supplying water into a float cup) are strapped to another side. One end of the shelter rests on metal feet; the other end is supported by wheels from an old hay conveyor. A white tarp covers the shelter, which is moved via skid steer on a daily schedule that coincides with feeding the milk cows and the replacement animals. The Wavruneks claim that this method is economical and provides health benefits for the calves.

Cost: Unknown

Impairment Category: Back, Lower extremity, Strength/endurance, Upper extremity