Portable Calf Shelter Built From Oilfield Pipe

Portable Calf Shelter Built From Oilfield Pipe BUILDINGS Livestock 23-1-4 "I built it strong so it can be moved around a feedlot without falling apart," says Mark Hay, Oakville, Manitoba, who used oilfield pipe to make a skid-mounted, heavy duty calf shelter. The shelter measures 24 ft. long and 11 ft. wide and is 7 ft. high at the front and 5 ft. high at the back. The frame consists of 2 7/8-in. dia. oilfield pipe covered with plywood. The roof is galvanized tin. There's a 20-in. high flap at each end. To move the shelter, you hook a chain onto one end and flip up the flap on the other end and tow it away. No need to fork out the manure build-up inside. "It works better than any other calf shelter I've ever seen because it's built so strong," says Hay. "Many commercial models are made out of wood, and if they're moved too much they fall apart. Steel models have end walls that go all the way down to the ground, so if manure builds up too high it's difficult to tow them away. This shelter has room for about 45 calves. It's 7 ft. high at the front so you don't have to bend over. Many commercial models are only 4 ft. high so you have to hunch over when putting in bedding. "The front part of the shed is equipped with removable horizontal steel bars that can be removed from the bottom up as the calves grow. The bars fit into brackets that are welded onto vertical lengths of oilfield pipe spaced 8 ft. apart. The shed could be built to leave just one 8-ft. wide bay with an open front with removable bars. The other two bays could be closed to keep the shed warmer." Hays says he's willing to build the basic shed for $2,275 (Canadian). He also builds a skid-mounted, "no waste" silage or hay feeder made out of the same thick-walled oilfield pipe with a 14 ga., 21-in. high steel skirt around the bottom. The feeder measures 6 ft. 8 1/2 in. wide at the top and tapers out to an 8 ft. 11 1/2 in. width at the bottom. It's 13 ft. long at the top and 15 ft. long at the bottom. An optional clean-out gate at one end swings up. "The combination of the tapered sides and bottom skirt results in less waste, and the cleanout gate allows you to hook a chain to the opposite end and pull it to a new spot any time you want," says Hay. "It's big enough to dump silage into it with a front-end loader. It's also ideal for feeding medium or large square bales. It can handle two round bales at a time." Sells for $850 with the 14 ga. steel skirt; $800 with a rough lumber skirt. The clean-out gate sells for $45. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mark Hay, Box 132, Oakville, Manitoba, Canada R0H 0Y0 (ph/fax 204 267-2111; E-mail: m h a y @ o a k v i l l e . n e t ; w e b s i t e : mhay@oakville. net).

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