Dairy Calves - News & Insights
Stay updated on the latest dairy calf management strategies. Explore expert advice on colostrum management, calf nutrition, disease prevention, and the beef-on-dairy trend to ensure a healthy, productive future for your herd.
Solvet Lidoband is approved for use in calves under 250 pounds and in lambs under 50 pounds. The local, soothing anesthesia works for up to 42 days, helping veterinarians and producers improve animal well-being.
Mercer Vu Dairy wanted to utilize group housing and waste milk to raise their preweaned calves with round-the-clock access to milk. Here’s how they came up with their own one-of-a-kind system.
A massive question dairy producers often ask themselves is who should be raising replacement heifers. Should they be raised by the producer, contracted out and customed raised, or should they be purchased?
When a cow freshens during the fall or winter, she tends to produce less colostrum than her herd mates who calved in spring and summer. It’s no coincidence. Now research is shedding some “light” on the situation.
In these tumultuous times of drought, global unrest, and supply chain disruptions, feed grains may not be as plentiful, available, and affordable as we have traditionally enjoyed.
The Cryptosporidium parasite is endemic to even the tidiest dairy farms, and is especially threatening to calf health. But it can be kept at bay in the calf management system with one simple and consistent approach.
It may not be a fancy cocktail, but accurate mixology is important for calf milk replacer, too.
We don’t feed dairy calves the way we used to, and that’s a very good thing, according to calf industry consultant Dave Kuehnel.
The heat is on, and calves feel it, too. Here are five strategies to help calves cope as summer sizzles on.
Calves and heifers aren’t as susceptible to heat stress as cows, but they do suffer from it to some degree, and their production is diminished as a result.
There’s a new equipment option for raising preweaned dairy calves, and it’s a far cry from the pocket-knife-slice approach of the past.
Raising heifers is expensive, to be sure. But in the long run, raising them right is far more important than raising them cheap.
What dietary supplements are best for preweaned calf rations? Out of the literally hundreds from which to choose, do any of them really work?
The Holstein breed is wrestling with the phenomenon of a newly identified genetic defect for Recumbency.
With temperatures rising from coast to coast, now is the time to wash and put away all of the calf jackets used over winter.
Precision dairy technology isn’t just for cows. Autofeeders, activity monitors, and other emerging tools are making it possible to raise calves with the type of individual attention received by the calves of yesterday.
Surplus dairy calves – those not intended for breeding – are their own, unique subset of the dairy industry.
Ask 10 dairy producers what they believe is an effective vaccination program for calves, and you’ll likely get 10 unique answers. That’s OK, because there is no effective one-size-fits-all strategy.
With drought and production costs pushing the native beef population to a record low, beef-on-dairy has a huge opportunity to keep the feedlots and processors at full capacity.
Real-time monitoring of the environmental conditions for baby calves during transport would be highly beneficial to their comfort and health. Now, that task is becoming a possibility.
Acidification of milk or milk replacer is a common practice for some calf raisers, with some studies showing it improves weight gain and fecal scores in calves.
Factors for consideration include colostrum management, group composition and dynamics, bedding and space, nutritional management, early disease detection and the need for “real life” observations.
Detecting respiratory disease in calves early – when treatment is most effective – should start by examining the head and facial features, according to veterinarian Tiago Tomazi with Merck Animal Health.
Could probiotics improve early calf growth? Researchers think so.
Have you ever noticed that cows who calve during the fall and winter months tend to produce less colostrum than their herd mates who calved during the spring and summer? Here’s why.
By using precision technologies such as automated milk feeders and pedometers combined with machine learning, dairy producers can detect illness earlier and make informed decisions about treatment.
In our quest for healthy, growthy, efficiently raised calves, have we lost some of the more fundamental elements of what makes calves tick?
That jolt from your morning java also could be a handy helper in stimulating struggling newborn calves. Caffeine could help calves before they receive colostrum, or at other times when calves appear dull and lethargic.
When baby calves are transported from their home dairy to a separate rearing site, they need support in multiple ways.
It has been well-documented that feeding preweaned calves on a higher plane of nutrition improves calf health and performance. However, providing calves more nutrients may also promote wound healing.