Calf pen design question

[stifflej]

Last year i started raising 2 Holstein steers as bucket calves, and want to do a few more this fall. My calf raising area in the barn was make shift, and I didn't like it much, very inconvenient, un-efficient and seemed to use to much space. I am trying to redo an area in my barn (which is very small) and am looking for ideas on how to build the pens while keeping it very cheap. My current thoughts are to make 3 pens (that is how many I want to raise) with each pen being 5'x6' inside with an outside run of 8'x5' so total pen space for each calf is 14' x 5'. My plan is to have the dividers between each pen (inside and outside) removable so when they are weened they can all be kept together in one big 15'x14' pen until they are ready to be moved to the coral and pasture.

I guess what i am looking for is advice on how to do the removable parts, without spending a lot of money. Also looking for opinions on what you think of the setup I am planning on building. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[sammyd]

forget pens and make yourself hutches. Calves do so much better outside.
We make ours like this one
http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu/extension/...Plans/6301.pdf
without the bucket and hay holders inside it. We hang buckets on cattle panels we use for the pen.
We have also bolted old lawnmower wheels on one and used it to progressively graze pasture.

[stifflej]

That is similar to what I am proposing, only using my barn as the covered area, and will be giving them a couple more square feet compared to that design. Can someone tell me how high the top of the feed buckets should be? And how big of an opening is needed for the calf to access the bucket? Thanks.