Calves & Heifers

Protecting the investment in your heifer herd has never been more important. We tend to put a lot of emphasis on genetic progress with our breeding programs, but we fail to partner that with a quality heifer management program to allow our heifers to express their full genetic potential.

While bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) persistently infected (PI) calves may look normal on the outside, they are comparable to a Trojan horse in your dairy herd. This is due to the level of virus each calf continues to shed throughout their lifetime.

“We have way too many calves with acidosis.”

“Rumen pHs are low, must be acidosis.”

“I need to switch calf starters; this one is causing acidosis.”

Have any of these thoughts crossed your mind? If so, you’re not alone. But, you might be missing the real question – do your calves actually have acidosis?

Winter always seems to sneak up on us before we know it. The amount of daylight gets shorter and shorter and the temperature gets colder and colder. We have a million things on our mind and prepping the calf facility might have fallen to the bottom of the to-do list.

Bloating in calves under 3 weeks old is usually caused by accumulating gas in their abomasum. This is a high-mortality-rate disease (usually over 60%) that happens quickly (usually within 24 hours).

“The dairy producer plays a critical role in veal production,” said Dr. Jessica Pempek, animal welfare specialist and assistant professor at Ohio State University. “Establishing the foundation for superior calf health and performance really begins on the dairy farm at birth.”