Ken and Jill Lawrence may have found the solution to a health problem that has bugged their northern Tasmanian farm for years.
Like many dairy farmers, the Lawrences have had to deal with regular rotavirus infections in their calves, a problem exacerbated by using the same calving paddocks year after year.
But a new clear-roof, deep-litter Dairy Shelters Australia shelter purpose-built as a calf-raising facility has contributed to a significant improvement in the effects of the virus.
The shelter has been so successful that the Lawrences want to add more next year to give their Jersey cows a warmer and drier place to calve.
Ken, a third-generation farmer on their Westbury property, said the ultimate aim of the first shelter built in 2023 was to combat the rotavirus and reduce calf sickness.
“The cows have been calving in the same paddocks for many years and you get a build-up of bugs, so we wanted to change that,” he said.
“We have a fairly high stocking rate, especially for the calving paddocks, and if it’s a wet calving season, the paddocks just turn to mud.”
The virus usually kicks in three weeks into calving but this year it remained absent until after a storm in September.
“We’ve had to deal with rotavirus over the past few years, but because it’s warmer in the shelter they don’t get secondary conditions or pneumonia and they are in a confined area so it’s easier to give them electrolytes,” Jill said.
“We are very particular about raising calves and they have grown bigger as they don’t have to keep themselves warm. They coped a lot better than if they had been out in the elements with the smaller shelters we previously used.”
There has been a seven per cent weight increase in 14-month-old yearling heifers raised in the shelters compared to the previous year.
The Fermer farm has been in the Lawrence family since 1936, always with a Jersey herd. Ken and Jill are joined on the farm by three of their five children.
The farm is on the edge of the high rainfall area, usually getting about 80cm a year. There are 210 hectares under irrigation with three centre pivots, covering nearly half of the 487-hectare farm that is supported by two run-off blocks for dry cows and for providing feed.
They milk between 850 and 900 cows that produce an average 6000 litres with high components, 5.3 per cent fat and 3.9 protein.
The relatively high stocking rate and constant re-use of the calving paddocks prompted a look at options for a shed.
They originally planned an enclosed shed with automated calf feeding equipment, but their son Henry went on a tour of Victoria and saw the Dairy Shelters Australia shelters.
“We met the Dairy Shelters Australia guys at AgFest and because we’re only half an hour away, they ducked out to look at the site and suggested we have a look at some of their shelters in Victoria,” Ken said.
“The following week we did a whirlwind two-day tour of Victoria. We also saw a shed with automatic calf feeders that we’re interested in. The calves were doing well and the feeders were great, but it was so cold and damp inside.
“On the same day, we looked at one of the Dairy Shelters Australia tunnels and it was completely different. It was dry, warm, sunny and with a lot of airflow. They sold themselves.”
Jill said they were impressed with how light they were and the relaxed environment they created.
“The calves seem happy and calm,” she said.
While the shelters can be used for multiple purposes, the Lawrences wanted one as a calf-rearing facility.
“We’ve used a shed for about 15 years but we’d outgrown it,” Ken said.
“We were using an old barn and rotating through the pens too often, increasing the risk of sickness. We rear about 400 calves every year and wanted another facility where we could house all our keeper calves.”
Calving happens over a hectic August-September, so after the May tour to Victoria, they placed an order for a shelter and construction started in June.
“We pulled the trigger on a site close to the dairy and started preparation,” Jill said.
The rush was also prompted by plans by Tas Networks for new transmission towers crossing their land.
“The transmission lines are right over the calf-rearing paddocks, but we didn’t know when the upgrade would take place,” Ken said.
“If that happens and they’re building towers twice the size we’ve currently got while we’re trying to rear calves, that’s going to be a bit of mayhem.
“We decided we had to do something. It is recommended to put them up in warmer weather but we did it in the middle of winter because we couldn’t wait. They did a fantastic job getting it up in time.”
Each tunnel is divided into six individual pens for up to 36 calves and the middle tunnel is kept free as a service lane to allow for easy movement.
Now Ken and Jill want calving shelters.
“If we calve them in the shelters and then raise them in shelters, that should eliminate the rotavirus infection from the paddocks,” Ken said.
“That will complete the picture.”
They hope to have the next structures ready by April 2025, with four connected shelters to allow eight square metres per cow with about 200 to calve at the same time in the split herd.
It will also create opportunities to bring a herd under cover during storms on the low-lying farm that is prone to paddock damage.
“Having a calving pad in a clear-roof shed is better for the cow, the calf and the farmer,” Jill said.
Ken and Jill believe other farmers should look at the shelter option.
“We highly recommend it,” Ken said.
“Two vets and a dairy farmer are running Dairy Shelters Australia, so that’s a great endorsement for the system and we’ve seen the results for ourselves.
“It’s an appreciable investment with the site prep, the build and the fit-out, but it’s definitely worthwhile.”