Rafter T Calf Hoods

08/03/2024

If you’re at the Roblin Rodeo and Fair today come visit Shannon and check out our booth at the Skating Rink Artisan Market!

04/25/2024

Here is the scanned version of the Roblin Review article, hopefully it’s slightly more legible!

04/24/2024

Our hardware free calf blanket, slip the hood over the head and under the front legs, strong elastic loops go around the back legs, making for a weather resistant cover that’s functional and fashionable!

04/24/2024

A bit late but a massive shoutout and thank you to Jennifer Laviolette of The Roblin Review for interviewing Shannon and sharing our story in our local newspaper last week! 📰

I’m working on tracking down a copy to scan properly but hopefully everyone can read just from the photos! 🥰🥰🥰

03/31/2024

So our calf hood pattern has been carefully designed to waste as little fabric as possible, but obviously there is some that cannot be helped. Grammy gave me a big bag of the cutouts from the eye holes and ear holes of the hoods, and told me to find a use for them!

As a little kid, I used to sew the eye hole cutouts into pockets to use as beds for my Littlest Pet Shop toys, and we were going to use these scraps for crafts with our local playgroup, and then Easter came along and I had a better idea! I took the ear hole cutouts which are oblong leaf shapes, and I sewed them into Easter eggs for my son’s Easter basket! 🐣🍫

These fabric eggs were the perfect size to hold a single treat each, they reduce plastic waste by replacing conventional plastic eggs, they’ll be reused for years to come, and they’re recycling these fabric scraps! 💚♻️💚

03/31/2024

Happy Easter from all of us at Rafter T Calf Hoods! 🪺🐣🐰🥚🍫🌱🌸🌷 sending warm wishes to the calves being born, the plants sprouting, and all our farmers and ranchers preparing for spring 🥰

03/20/2024

Oh how cute…this Highland calf is about 50 Lbs…maybe a size small hood would fit her better but this shows that a bigger hood will still work to cover those ears…I am having fun creating the Calf Cover blankets…thank you for sharing this pic Mary…it does our hearts good to see our products helping our fellow producers!

03/12/2024

Where there is a will…there is a way…old cowgirls never quit we find another way of doing things…both my knees are trashed and one pops out of joint when I bend over…so I sit on a footstool when I Bag ‘em and Tag em! 🤣 Happy Calving everyone!

03/09/2024

03/09/2024

HaHa that’s how I feel right now!! I check 2 times in a row so my hubby can get a block of sleep..except last night…3 hours after he went to bed I had to wake him up to put a Calfhood and blanket on a fresh calf…Lorne and I are in our late 60’s and what one of us used to do alone and think nothing of it…now for safety we have the policy of it now takes 2 of us to do that job!

03/05/2024

Our blizzard baby is enjoying his lunch…this pic shows how our calf covers are strapped on…there is an elastic across the chest…he is 80 Lbs and wearing a size large cover!

03/04/2024

Our Blizzard baby is snug and warm!!!

03/03/2024

We are now calving ourselves… but I have an inventory of Calfhoods presewn to sell to other cow/calf producers…Have some Calf Covers (blankets ) Available…in sizes medium and large…

02/20/2024

We have noticed if we feed grain at supper time that more calves are born in the morning…

02/16/2024

Sweet Early Baby! Thanks Karen Fowler Drul for sending in this pic of her calf born on Valentine’s Day wearing a Rafter T calf blanket! “The blanket sure did help him warm up and dry off more once we got him and mom into barn”

💜💜Plus the bright purple looks beautiful on this little white calf, what a cutie!💜💜💜

📸We love seeing your pictures and reading your reviews! ⌨️

If you have any pictures of your calves wearing our hoods or blankets, please DM us or post them to our page! Leaving a review on our page helps us a ton too! Happy calving!

02/14/2024

🐮 🐎 🧒 🍀 Our winner is Susann Stone! 🐮 🐎 🧒 🍀

Congratulations Susann you’ve won this lovely green and yellow calf hood!

Sorry for the late posting, I had to tally up the entries (in the future, pls verify that all instructions have been followed, and that you’ve liked our page!)

💖Thank you everyone for entering our annual Valentine’s Day draw, please remember to like our page and share our posts, happy calving to you all! 💖

02/14/2024

Giveaway is closed! Join us at 4pm CST to find out who will be winning our green and yellow calf hood!

02/12/2024

Only a few more days to like and share the original post to enter the draw! Entries close at 12pm noon on wednesday!

02/01/2024

💖Happy February everyone!💖 We are once again spreading the love and running our Valentine’s Day giveaway starting today February 1st until the 14th!

We are giving away this iconic green and yellow hood in a size Large (if you’re a JD 🚜 or Packers 🏈 fan you’re gonna want in on this!)

To enter the draw, Like our page, Share this post, and Comment some of your favourite emojis (mine are 🥰💖🫂🥹🦄🌚🌝)

Draw closes Valentine’s Day, February 14th, at 12 o’clock pm CST, so get your entries in before then! Draw will be made that afternoon at 4pm and announced here on the page, as well as DM’d to the winner! Best of luck and Happy Valentine’s Day!

01/21/2024

For those of you wanting to order a Calf Cover these are your colour choices…I have switched to a cloth called Twill for the outside layer…it will come with an inner layer of fleece of course…I keep searching out the best deals on cloth and the cloth that will stand up to multiple washings…Twill feels like a light denim…as I am offering this product for the 1st time this year…all orders will be custom built for your size of calves…I will try to build an inventory of them….I have some built already with Nylon ripstop outer layer…washes nice but can’t put in dryer other than on air dry…All Calf Covers will sell for $50 each regardless of size….

01/21/2024

We should all be second hand vegans!
Is the ONLY way to make plant based diets work since we ARE NOT herbivores! 🥩❤️

01/18/2024

01/16/2024

Haha…Faith Heelers!

01/14/2024

I was recently asked if I could create a calfhood and blanket for a 250 lb calf that due to health reasons was losing its fur…mission accomplished…yes I also make calf blankets now…no plastic hardware to break in winter…no metal snaps going down a cows throat…that’s right …a NO hardware Calf Cover…

01/14/2024

01/14/2024

For those of you finding us for the first time, let us introduce ourselves! We are Rafter T Calf Hoods, a multigenerational, female-owned, farm family business from Roblin Manitoba!

Our company was founded by our matriarch, “Grammy” Shannon Twerdun 30 years ago. A self made female entrepreneur, she followed her dream of owning her own farm and living her best life with her husband and best friend, Lorne aka “Grumpy”. With her intense drive and spirit, her love and care for her animals, and her immense talent for crafting, she developed the original design our customers now know and love, the Rafter T Calf Hood! The hoods Shannon made in the 90’s are still in incredible shape, and being used on our family’s farms to this day, a true testament to their durability!

These beautiful, one of a kind hoods have been handmade in Manitoba, mostly by Shannon herself for 30 years. Over the years her husband Lorne, her daughter, cattle rancher Tabytha Larocque, and her granddaughters Holly Hart, Austyn Larocque and Haylee Larocque have helped with various aspects of the production, cutting fabric, sewing hoods, packaging, marketing, shipping, and technical support. We are mothers, farmers, artists, seamstresses, entrepreneurs, animal lovers, and most importantly, family!

Rafter T Calf Hoods are a one of a kind product. Handmade with 3 layers of fleece in the ears, they keep a calf’s head and ears toasty warm even in the coldest winter, while still allowing a full range of movement and blood flow to the ears, wide eye holes so as not to obstruct vision, and elastic around the throat making them easy for humans to put on, but hard for cows to take off! No tape, no tugging, no trouble at all, and completely machine washable too! We source our materials from local businesses and even use reclaimed or recycled fabrics when we can, which helps keep our prices low!

For decades, we have provided hoods to local retailers at a small scale, then branched out to local craft sales. In 2018 we launched our page, going viral and selling a record amount of hoods directly to consumers! Our hoods are now protecting ears all over Canada, the US, and we’ve even had sales in Europe! We are forever grateful to our customers near and far, and we love seeing pictures of your calves wearing their hoods! Whether for function or fashion, Rafter T Calf Hoods are a must have for winter calving!

So thank you for reading, thank you for getting to know us and our family, thank you for supporting a small business, and when you choose Rafter T Calf Hoods, your calves will be thanking you. ❤️🐄🐂🐃❤️

To contact us or place an order, please DM our page through Facebook Messenger

03/14/2023

When a heifer has twins...

02/26/2023

Haha!