Autumn- and spring-born calves that are suckling cows during the housing period should have access to a bedded creep area.
The benefits of a creep area far outweigh the extra costs associated with bedding used for such pens.
Calves should not be competing for lying space with cows in larger group pens, as there is a risk of injury from being trampled.
Also, when forced to lie on concrete slats. or wet bedding when mixing with cows, calves have to burn more energy to maintain core body temperature.
That makes younger animals more susceptible to disease. When it comes to creep pen management, outlined are five tips to keep in mind.
1. Bedding material
Straw will be the most common bedding choice for creep pens, but wood chip also works well and offers good insulation. It also provides good soakage.
The downside to wood chip is spreading it back on land - it takes time to break down. Ploughing it into ground if reseeding or planting a spring crop is recommended.
Regardless of the bedding material used, pens should be bedded regularly to provide dry lying areas. If you kneel on the bed and can feel the damp, then additional bedding needs to be applied.
2. Give calves access to fodder
Offer a high dry matter fodder, such as hay or straw, to stimulate rumen development in young autumn-born animals.
With stronger calves born in late spring to early autumn, offering good-quality silage in the creep pen avoids these animals having to compete with cows at the feed rail.
3. Meal feeding
Similar to offering forage, feeding meal in the creep pen is good practice and will encourage calves to use the area.
4. Adjustable creep gate
If using a creep gate to provide access to the pen, it should have adjustable bars to control the size of animals moving in and out. It should also be able to lock calves in or out of the pen entirely.
By adjusting the gate opening, it can let younger, smaller calves in to access meal before bigger calves, if there is limited feed space.
Locking calves in the creep pen by day and overnight in autumn-calving herds can help bring cows back into heat and exhibit stronger heat activity.
5. Lighting and airflow
The creep pen should be well lit by natural light or LEDs, so that calves can be closely monitored. There should also be some form of ventilation to remove stale air, although it is crucial to get the balance right so that calves are not exposed to a draught or chill.
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