Good calf housing only costs €0.0021 per kilogram of milk

26 July 2018

On a dairy farm with 100 dairy cows, 60 youngstock animals, and an average milk production of 9,000 kg per cow, you can create optimal calf housing for only €0.0021 per kg of milk. The simple solution is this: house calves outside in single-calf of group igloos.

Housing calves outside has major advantages due to the minimal infection rates, especially if you purchase easy-to-clean igloos that are disinfected after each cleaning operation. Assuming a 30% replacement rate, a calving age of 24 months, and a depreciation after ten years, the annual costs of calf relocation for this sample farm in the Netherlands are around €1,950.00. This is only about 4% of the total rearing costs for youngstock, which amount to a total of about €48,000. Read more here.

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