A 4dBarn® concept-designed calf barn was introduced into a farm owned by RantaHyry Oy in northern Finland. It’s greatest feature that surprises many farmers when they hear about it, is that it is uninsulated---uninsulated calf barn in an area when temperatures fall to -30 °C (-22 °F) in wintertime. How do the calves bear it? And the workers, do they not have any complaints working in such an environment? The keywords to the answer are simple; good ventilation, short working hours and a warm calf kitchen. Yes, the only room that is insulated in the calf barn structure is for humans.
Juho Hyry, owner of this barn, claims that this calf barn sized for 48 calves, allows all routine work to be done by just one person in about 1 and a quarter hours per day for 20 animals in the current situation. All routine work is planne with maximum labor efficiency, and the warm kitchen provides a comfortable space for preparations like milk for the calves and cleaning-ups, like washing milk buckets or milk taxis.
As for the temperature inside the barn, the ventilation system keeps the air dry enough (not to mention, no direct flow of cold air towards the calves during winter) so all Juho has to do is have the calves wear jackets during the coldest seasons. This dry and draft-free environment is not only bearable for the calves, it also brought them good health. Hear Juho talk about the respiratory problem he used to have in his former calf barn and how it settled in the new one. “The calf barn should be designed based on the calf’s comfort and needs.” emphasizes Juho. “4dBarn® has a variety of solutions for distinct situations to not make the calf barn a bottleneck of the entire barn management.”
4dBarn® does not just draw ideal barn layouts off the top of their heads for universal situations. In order to make a functional barn, to be precise, for the farmer to be able to utilize a functional barn, 4dBarn® runs along coaching the farmer throughout the whole designing series. So, by the time the barn is built, the farmer does not just own the barn, he can actually operate it. This coaching-with-concurrent-designing process is what’s unique (and also the best part!) about the 4dBarn® Design Training program. The Program starts from asking the farmer’s visions on how to work in the new barn. 4dBarn supports those wishes from the viewpoint of the LEAN method. All questions on what and how to do things are considered and decided before drawing anything on the blueprint of the barn. For example in a calf barn, how is colostrum carried from the milk barn to the calf barn, what tools are going to be used to milk the calves, are the calves going to be grouped at some point?In general, there are about 70, or even more, details to think about. It takes time and a lot of thinking, but 4dBarn assures the farmer’s confidence in starting a different barn style.
Juho Hyry, RantaHyry Oy 4dBarn® Designed Calf Barn. 2019