Calves & Heifers

Thousands of dollars are invested in every heifer from the point of birth to her first calving. With this in mind, a 100-cow dairy will invest nearly $112,000 a year, and a 1,000-cow dairy will put down over a million dollars. Due to these investments, only the right heifers should be selected to serve as herd replacements.

It’s common knowledge that feeding adequate volumes of high-quality colostrum benefits the health and growth of the calf. It’s also known that calves that receive good-quality colostrum right after birth carry those benefits throughout their lives as heifers and even into the lactating herd. Therefore, it makes good sense to emphasize protocols that lead to the development and management of high-quality colostrum.

Imagine that your car will go 60 miles per hour in the summer but only 30 mph when the temperature is freezing, and it will not run at all when the temperature falls to 0ºF. This is an accurate illustration of how cold temperature adversely affects rate of gain in calves.

Calves can cross-suck on each other not only when housed in pairs or groups, but also when housed individually with contact through pen dividers.

The use of plants in human medicine has a long, rich history.

Dairy cows have a natural drive to groom themselves and to scratch those hard-to-reach itches on their bodies. When given the opportunity, dairy cattle use mechanical brushes daily at every stage of their lives.