CALVES & HEIFERS

Salmonella is a potential concern on many dairy operations. It’s important for all dairy producers to understand and manage this devastating disease – not only to protect herd health but also to prevent potential impact on food safety for consumers.

Automatic calf feeders allow farms to set customized nutrition plans to match their farms’ goals to optimize health and growth of preweaned calves.

Heat stress is a crucial concern when it comes to lactating dairy cattle, both from a welfare and economic standpoint on our dairy farms. Much research has been conducted to elucidate the effects of heat stress on lactating cows and to develop effective heat abatement strategies.

How do you know if your calf-raising program is producing high-quality, healthy calves that are set up to meet their genetic potential for milk production in the future? Maybe you look at the percent of preweaning calves that die or that get treated for scours or pneumonia.

While there seems to be general agreement on the benefit of having heifers calve at 24 months of age, according to 2014 U.S. National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) data, it’s not happening.

I doubt that anyone would deny we are living in an age of disruption. Successful dairy managers do not just “respond” to the current situation; they anticipate the impact of future “disruptors” and are proactive. Strict adherence to what has been successful in the past may mean “failure” in the future.