Designing Effective Calving Facilities

By Jessica Graham

Setting up a calving facility requires thoughtful planning to ensure it meets the needs of cattle and handlers during one of the most critical times in livestock management. The best facilities take into consideration safety, available labor, and reliability. Key design considerations, such as proper layout, safety, chute access, and available labor needs to be considered. 

We spoke with Myron Wigness, who heads up the sales designing services Hi-Hog Farm & Ranch Equipment about some tips and advice when it comes to designing calving facilities. Hi-Hog started out as a family operation, it was incorporated in 1974 and expanded. In 2024, they celebrated the company’s 50th anniversary.

One of the best pieces of advice Wigness has when it comes to looking for a good calving pen design is to find a good versatile fit for your operation. Wigness elaborates on this, “We try to develop a line that’s very versatile. There are very few situations that we even have to build special equipment to fit, even if it’s into a restricted area, like a vet clinic.” Wigness gives us a good tip on the design customers have loved when it comes to calving pens, “We were one of the first companies to put the cow in the middle of the pen, instead of to one corner.  When you’re milking them out, you can work them from either side. Calves also can suck from either side of the cow, and if you have twins, you can have a gap on each side, and the cow.” 

Wigness explains more about their recommended design and the importance of versatility, “The way out split panels work, allow you to get the cow into the towards the center of the pen.  She might not always be facing the right direction, but she can usually find the head gate. Most cows figure that’s a way out, so she catches herself at the self-catch head gate.”

Designs for Working by Yourself

One other thing to consider when designing and picking out calving pens is the amount of help and assistance you will have. Some farms and ranches have hired help, spouses, or family readily available, while others might have to rely on only themselves during the calving season. Take your workload and available help into careful consideration when you are evaluating how to set up calving pens. When it comes to operations that might have little to no extra help when needed, you need to also consider the safety to yourself, the cow, and the calf. Wigness recommends, “During calving season, a lot of times, you’re stumbling around out there in the dark by yourself. So, safety is a big concern. We try to keep even someone that’s working alone safe.”

You only have one life to live, and when it comes to your personal safety, you can’t get lax and start cutting corners.  For instance, you also need your pens to be sturdy, keeping cows contained. “Another alternative to the calving pen that we came up with is a basic pen that is 10 by 10, but the side panels are 12 feet long. So if the cow hits the pen, they shouldn’t be able to flip the pen over.” The added length of the side panels helps stabilize the calving pens. This can help keep you out of the frustrating situation of having a cow break through your corral and also decreases the chance of injury to the cow and calf. If you are working cattle by yourself, it is especially difficult to get an upset cow back into a corral she just busted through.

When it comes to getting a cow in by yourself, Wigness gives advice about the head chute design. He says, “You got a self-catch head gate and split panels on both sides so you can do C sections, or pretty well everything you need to do.” He explains how cattle vet clinics prefer the design of having the cow in the middle of the corral. “They have good access to both sides of the animal, from top to bottom. Having the cow in the center of that pen with the self-catch head gate and the split panels is the same as what we call our calving trimming chute. It’s got a self-catch head gate and both sides swing split panels swing out, just like they do in the calving pen. That’s a very popular item in vet clinics because of the complete access to both sides of the animal.” 

He goes on to explain some considerations when it comes to flooring. “It has a floor so the cow is on the floor, so she can’t run away with the whole unit.“

Crowding Tubs

Handling cattle can be a risky and stressful task, and when you’re dealing with a 1500-pound cow that is already stressed, the potential for injury to both you, the cow, and the calf increases significantly. That’s why calm, efficient handling methods are essential.  Hi-Hog has over 300 configurations of crowding tubs using standard components, for everyone’s safety and well-being. Crowding tubs are designed with these principles in mind. There are a plethora of designs from partial tubs, to buds, to full tub structures. Cattlemen typically elect circular or quarter-circle in shape and feature solid sides to restrict the cattle’s vision and reduce distractions. By limiting their visible escape routes, crowding tubs take advantage of a cow’s natural instinct to follow the animal ahead of them. This design encourages smooth, stress-free movement into a narrow alleyway, guiding them single file toward the desired location.

Once in the alley, the cow can be directed to specific areas such as chutes for veterinary care, calving assistance, or other procedures. The movable gate within the crowding tub further helps encourage forward movement, simplifying tasks while minimizing stress for both cattle and handlers. Calm is the key, and with a crowding tub, handling cattle becomes a more controlled and pleasant experience for all involved.

Wigness touches on the recent interest in the designs from the cattle industry. He says, “Just recently, there were some people that like the idea of a crowding tub to get the cow in. So, we take our calving trimming setup and one section of our tub and you get the benefit of crowding the cow into the head gate. The advantage we have is because it’s our standard tub components.” Wigness goes on to explain that the panels are sheeted, so you direct the cow where you want her to go by blocking visibility. According to Wigness, “That keeps them focused a little bit better on catching themselves in the head. With a crowding tub setup, we have, what we call, a maternity tub. You can actually bring a cow into that system from three different directions. So if you set it in the middle of your barn, you can come into it from three different directions. If everything is sheeted except where you want her to go, then they naturally turn towards the light. That way, they will find their way into that head chute pretty readily,” he says.

“As far as designing calving barns there’s no limit to what different needs are there,” explains Wigness. “The biggest one I’ve ever done was 220 feet long by about 60 feet wide for a 200-cow herd. Calving season was a pretty busy time for them. In that system, we designed the pen so that you could make 10-foot-wide alleys going any direction from anywhere, just by swinging gates. There were posts installed so the gates would strike in three different spots. You could actually have a full alley, full length or full width of that barn, going any direction from anywhere.” In this situation, they used their calving facilities for all their cattle handling. Wingness explains, “That took their calving facilities, and made it versatile for basically everything they wanted. This particular one had a crowding tub, 91 feet of all alley with three stations branching off that alley, so they could work a lot of cattle in a short time, like for synchronizing, or calving, and everything that they needed to do.”

When it came to designing calving facilities, Hi-Hog used standard components to design and fit the needs of the cattlemen. However, sometimes you just need something simple and economical. Wigness addresses how cattlemen can keep things simple and efficient, “Our trimming chute is probably our simplest, economy design.” He explains the design is compatible with about any barn, “As long as you have a few panels to get the cow to [the trimming chute], it is very efficient for most purposes. The trimming chute is heavy-duty enough and accessible enough that it’s a very popular unit in vet clinics. They can do pretty well anything they need to do to an animal.” 

Setting Up a Calving Pen for Success

Designing and setting up a calving pen requires careful planning to ensure it meets the needs of both the cattle and the handlers. Labor efficiency is a critical factor—your pen should minimize the effort required to guide cows through the space while allowing for quick and safe access and handling during the calving season. A well-thought-out design, incorporating features like crowding tubs and alleys, supports the natural movement of cattle and reduces stress.

Access to the chute is equally important, as this is where many essential tasks, from veterinary care to calf removal, take place. The layout should ensure seamless movement from the pen to the chute, avoiding bottlenecks or unnecessary handling. Safety should be first and foremost, both for the cattle and for those working with them. Solid, durable materials and secure gates help create a reliable setup that prevents accidents and ensures long-term usability.

When all these considerations—labor, design, access, safety, and reliability—are addressed, the result is a calving pen that fosters a calm, controlled environment. This not only improves the welfare of your cattle but also makes the calving season more manageable and less stressful for you and your team. A thoughtfully constructed pen is an investment that pays dividends in smoother operations and healthier livestock.

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