Calf runs or pens

[Will]

I am working on laying out a barn with three runs coming off of the barn.  How long and wide would you make them?

 

[advocate]

Probably no more than 30 or forty wide and as long as possible

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

I am building some right now ( in the rain!    ) They are approximatelty 64 feet wide and 400 feet long. RW

 

[Cattledog]

I am building some right now ( in the rain!    ) They are approximatelty 64 feet wide and 400 feet long. RW

I think that would be the perfect width.  Really helps to keep the mud down when you have runs like that.

 

[rtmcc]

Ours are 22 feet wide and 375 long.  wish they were longer some days but thats how it worked out using an existing barn.  As far as the width, I like them at 22 feet or less so one person or kid can bring cattle up into the barn by them selves, even after the cattle get sick of it.  Each of our runs goes into individual pens inside the barn.  If I could start from scratch on open ground I would love pie shaped pens coming out of the barn.  Butt if you are tight for space I would go with length over width, even if the runs have to be L shaped like ours.

Good luck!

Ron
<cowboy>

 

[Cattledog]

Ours are 22 feet wide and 375 long.  wish they were longer some days but thats how it worked out using an existing barn.  As far as the width, I like them at 22 feet or less so one person or kid can bring cattle up into the barn by them selves, even after the cattle get sick of it.  Each of our runs goes into individual pens inside the barn.  If I could start from scratch on open ground I would love pie shaped pens coming out of the barn.  Butt if you are tight for space I would go with length over width, even if the runs have to be L shaped like ours.

Good luck!

Ron
<cowboy>

Our setup is similiar to yours.  Our runs go into individual pens in the barn as well.  This summer we are redoing our runs to pie out to 45ft and a length of about 500ft.

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

This is the second set of these I have built - all of the runs "dump" into an alley way that leads to a catch/holding pen. RW

 

[The Show]

I have a 5 acre turn out pen for two calves, and my set up inside for growing hair. Their either outside or tied up so I didn't build any small pens or runs. For feeding I just took 5 panels, put two at the head, one in the middle, and one on each end, and left the back open. It works really good bc they run right up to the feed troughs and don't think about leaving the pen to mess with the other calf and they don't think they can get to the other calf bc they see a panel. Best part about though...you don't have to worry about turning them out when their done   they start looking around and realize they can walk right out.

 

[Cattledog]

This is the second set of these I have built - all of the runs "dump" into an alley way that leads to a catch/holding pen. RW

If I could I would do it the way you are doing it.  I've seen similiar setups and it sure does work nice.

 

[afhm]

The longer the better.  Wide is good, but make sure it funnels down to make it easier to get the out of the runs.