Calves & Heifers

After growing their milking herd from 300 cows to 500, Myron Daniels, co-owner of MGD Farms in Union Grove, Wisconsin, had too many calves for their 25-pen calf barn.

The value of consistency, doing the little things right every day, these are always good ideas, but even more so in the current dairy climate. Cold weather calf care is a great example of how recommitting to the basics, and consistently doing things right, pays off in improved calf health and down-the-road cow productivity.

No matter the situation, follow these steps to properly tube a calf.

Do you feel prepared to raise calves during the winter season? The lower critical temperature of a young dairy calf is 50ºF, which means that the calf’s energy requirement begins to increase in order to maintain core body temperature in conditions below 50ºF.

You add it to bread to make the dough rise, and you use it to ferment beer and wine. But why feed yeasts to your herd?

If you’ve experienced a severe burn, you’ll know all too well that the pain doesn’t disappear overnight. In fact, it can get worse before it gets better. When it comes to hot-iron disbudding, calves may be in a similar boat.