Cool Room

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plattevalleysimmentals

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Messages
98
Location
Kearney, NE
Ok, So I'm looking at possibly building a cool room. Im not to crazy on the idea of going out and buying a cool calf room and would like any suggestions on materials that one would use for the walls as well as what kind of flooring/ drainage set up a person would use or design.Also, how much space does one need per calf? Thanks for any help and ideas
 

GoWyo

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Messages
1,691
Location
Wyoming
We framed up a front wall and door in a 10'x10' stall in our 12'x40' lean to shed.  Once we sealed off a wall between that stall and the next one, we sprayed 3-4" of the spray foam insulation (had a local insulation company do it) on all four walls and the underside of the roof (it sticks to wood or tin just fine) and put OSB around to 4' high to keep cattle from damaging the insulation.  We placed a 18,000 BTU air conditioner and mounted a couple of fans up high and it does great -- stays around 60 deg., which is the lowest setting on the air conditioner.  A Cool Bot would let us make it pretty cold, but 60 degrees and dark seems to grow enough hair for smaller jackpots and county fair. 

It has a dirt floor that drains to the right side of the room and seems to work fine.  Fresh air can come in through small gaps under the walls, so no need for a vent.  We bed it with cedar mulch on the bottom and shavings on top and can get about 10-14 days before the bedding has to be replaced so long as it is picked a couple of times per day and stirred well each evening when calves are removed.  Total cost of project with $450 air conditioner was about $1800.  It fits two fat steers comfortably.

As a bonus, it can be used to hang meat during hunting season.
 

KMJCC

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2009
Messages
212
I built a 12'x16' cool room last summer.  It is on an outside wall of my pole barn and I just framed it up like a pole barn structure using 4x4's.  I stuffed the walls with as much insulation as I could get in them.  I was able to cram 2 layers of the batte insulation in.  I then used white metal on the inside and outside and put a 36" steel house door on it.  I cool it with a 24,000 btu LG window unit from home depot and with 2 sullivan turbo fans going in there and the A/C  set at 69 on energy saver mode ( it kicks on and off doesn't run all the time) it stays about 63 in there.  I usually start the A/C about 5 in the morning when I get up for work and the calves don't go in untill about 7:30-8.  We have had 2-3 feeders in there that stay tied up.  I probably only had about 700-800 dollars in it and that is buying a brand new a/c for 500.  Most of the metal and all of the insulation I had already from cleaning up job sites.
 
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