Latest News From Dairy Calves

The goal of formulating milk replacer is to as closely as possible duplicate – and even improve upon – whole milk. A team of researchers is exploring how to do that based on fat source choices and fatty acids.

Bacteria, viruses, and protozoa all have crafty methods of making preweaned calves sick. Veterinarian Don Sockett shares his advice on fighting these organisms through effective cleaning and sanitation routines.

The best-quality colostrum is thick, creamy, and has a beautiful golden color, right? Not necessarily, according to Danish veterinarian and researcher Hanne Skovsgaard Pedersen.

Numerous studies have now shown that feeding colostrum replacer to mimic transition milk has beneficial effects for preweaned calves.

If you want to stay ahead of calf health and catch sickness in its earliest stage, University of Minnesota Graduate Student Abbigail Prins offers a handy detection tip.

Though maternity pens can sometimes feel chaotic to manage, there are additional ways to help minimize stress and create a calmer calving environment for both cow and calf.

Higher prices for beef calves are incentivizing dairy producers to breed crossbred bull calves

Whether you’re building a new calf barn or retrofitting an existing structure, there are measures that can be taken to ensure the best possible calf comfort, welfare, and health.

Gene editing has been used experimentally to produce polled calves and calves with lighter-colored haircoats. Now, USDA researchers, have produced a calf with reduced susceptibility to bovine viral diarrhea virus.

No matter when beef cross calves are being sold, steps can be taken to make them more marketable.

Routinely monitoring transfer of passive immunity is an effective way to evaluate colostrum management and identify calves with failure of passive transfer.

A recent survey shows that the likelihood of using pain mitigation for common procedures like dehorning, disbudding and castration was directly linked to the human managers’ perception of pain for the animal.

Cryptosporidia is one of the most common scours-causing pathogens in preweaned calves, and, unfortunately, it strikes in the early weeks of life when calves are most vulnerable.

A popular combination of enhancements in calf starter rations has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for replacement heifers.

Heifer availability has tightened, and prices have increased substantially. One reason is the interest that has developed in beef-on-dairy calves.

In both human and veterinary medicine, we’re hearing more about the benefits of gut supplements to support health, performance, and well-being.

More calves born on dairies than ever before are eventually headed to feedyards these days. Performance and profitability merits sending healthy animals from the calf-rearing stage to the feedlot.

Waste milk is not necessarily the “free lunch” it is often perceived to be, and may actually be a quite harzardous and costly liquid ration option.

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.

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.

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.

What dietary supplements are best for preweaned calf rations? Out of the literally hundreds from which to choose, do any of them really work?

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.

It may not be a fancy cocktail, but accurate mixology is important for calf milk replacer, too.

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.

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.

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.

Just like children letting off some steam on the playground, calves too could benefit from physical enrichment.

In our quest for healthy, growthy, efficiently raised calves, have we lost some of the more fundamental elements of what makes calves tick?

University of Wisconsin animal welfare researcher Sarah Adcock addresses several considerations when using caustic paste to complete disbudding, as well as some drawbacks that could be improved upon.

After a typical birth the calf should breathe within 30 seconds of delivery, says Dr. Geof Smith, dairy technical services veterinarian for Zoetis. If it isn't, you need to intervene.