Calves & Heifers

Raising crossbred calves for the beef market requires intensive management with a focus on calf health and nutrition. Getting calves off to a good start, and getting them to grow well, necessitates providing a low-stress environment and feeding for gain.

Raising replacement heifers is the second-highest cost to a dairy enterprise, making up nearly 20 percent of production costs. More than 15 percent of that total cost is incurred during the first two months of life, when milk replacer makes up a large portion of nutrient intake.

Nobody would buy the cheapest lumber, hire the cheapest carpenters who use the cheapest tools but still expect to have the finest cabinetry built.

Water – which makes up 86 percent of a newborn calf’s bodyweight – is the most important nutrient for dairy calves, but it is often overlooked.

When calves are fed twice a day and housed in individual pens or hutches, the morning feeder is greeted by loud bawling of calves anxiously awaiting their morning meal. It may have been more than 12 hours since their last meal of 2 quarts of milk or milk replacer.

Implanting is a proven strategy to help improve feed efficiency and average daily gain (ADG). The basic premise of implanting is to start with the least potent implant, moving up to the most potent implant based on days on feed.