walk in cooler

I was wondering what everyone has had with experience using a walk in cooler for calves. is the added moisture and hair from calves hard on the units?

We bought two walk in coolers from a grocery store that was moving.  Out of that we assembled a 12 x 20 cool room.  We dug a pit, put in a deep layer of washed rock, and then cedar fiber.  We've had the calves in for three weeks now and no problems at all.  The cooling units that came with the coolers were 3 phase and we do not have access to 3 phase power so we had to buy a commercial refr. unit.  We just added a feed room adjacent to it yesterday.  Let me know if you want pics.

okiegirl said:

We bought two walk in coolers from a grocery store that was moving.  Out of that we assembled a 12 x 20 cool room.  We dug a pit, put in a deep layer of washed rock, and then cedar fiber.  We've had the calves in for three weeks now and no problems at all.  The cooling units that came with the coolers were 3 phase and we do not have access to 3 phase power so we had to buy a commercial refr. unit.  We just added a feed room adjacent to it yesterday.  Let me know if you want pics.

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Please post some for all of us see

We bought a cooler from someone else with the intention of using it, but after having our steers & heifers in our old bank barn & 5 turbo fans, they kept their hair & grew more. With our hot temps in the 90's & 100's this year, they kept thier hair well by rinsing, combing & brushing 2-4 times a day & keeping them cool. As soon as they started puffing from heat, we would rinse. We never let them sweat. Last year we used grow & shine on our steers which helped greatly too. Not supposed to use on heifers. When we stopped giving it to him after shows & sale barn time, he started shucking hair big time. We won grand champ with him at our fair & won grand in 3 open shows. My sister in law had a "cool calf" unit I believe & they liked the safety door that opened if the electric went out. I know ammonia odor was an issue with the cooler. They even tried the ammonia powder stuff on the floor, but didnt help much. Had to clean it out twice a day. Hope some of that helps.