Calves & Heifers

Harmful pathogens lurk everywhere on a dairy. Taking a whole-farm approach to pathogen reduction can break the cycle of infection and re-infection that may prevent your herd from performing at its best.

Imagine if waste milk came with a product label that listed nutrient values and fat, protein and lactose concentrations. You’d know exactly what calves take in each day without testing equipment. A majority of waste milk doesn’t contain all the essential nutrients calves need. But, without a nutrition label or sophisticated testing equipment, it’s hard to tell if you’re giving calves what they need. And, what happens when nutrient levels aren’t up to par?

When making decisions on feed and management for calves and heifers, it’s easy to choose the cheapest option. However, we need to view these costs as an investment and think about how the decisions we make now will affect future outcomes.

If you raise cattle, you likely know about and have dealt with dystocia or calving difficulty. How dystocia is scored and assessed can prove quite variable.

We expect a lot from heifer calves in today’s modern dairy world, which requires more efficiency and consistency for success. Populating the milking herd with any heifer is no longer viable.

With heifer raising accounting for roughly 20 percent of total farm expenses, paying close attention to heifer nutrition and management is essential for raising quality replacement animals without adding on unnecessary expenses.