However, the management needed to be successful may look a little different.
While vaccination protocols probably don’t look any different whether you are calving in confinement or not, biosecurity and other management strategies to control environmental conditions become more important. Due to the close proximity of cows and calves in confinement, there is likely a greater concern of a disease outbreak.
Particularly because calves can contract a multitude of pathogens that cause scours within the first three weeks of life, cleanliness of the facility is critical to avoid rapid spreading. Although challenging at times, keeping facilities clean and dry from old bedding, manure and mud is necessary to help reduce the risk.
Providing calves with access to loafing areas where cows cannot access is beneficial for avoiding overcrowding as well as calf health and welfare. Loafing areas can be as simple as designating a corner of the building using creep and portable gates or providing empty round bale feeders. Ensuring clean areas for the dams to bed down also aids in clean udders and reduces the risk of contamination to nursing calves.
Many producers have capitalized on the use of ultrasound technology to group cows together based on their calving date to eliminate excess cows being under-roof. This also allows for calves to be grouped by age to prevent transmission of pathogens from older calves to younger cows, similar to a modified Sandhills calving approach.
Confinement settings may also negatively impact dam and calf bonding abilities when cows do not have the ability to remove themselves from the herd during calving. Thus, it can be more challenging to ensure each calf receives adequate colostrum. A calf requires 6 to 10 percent of their bodyweight in colostrum within the first 12 to 24 hours of life.
A nighttime feeding regimen is also easy to implement in a confinement setting to increase the number of cows that calve during the day. For further calving management tips in confinement, consult with your local extension beef specialist, nutritionist and herd health veterinarian. 
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Erika Lundy
- Extension Beef Program Specialist
- Iowa Beef Center - Iowa State University
- Email Erika Lundy
