CALVES & HEIFERS

Keeping calves alive means you have a successful calf-raising program, right? While it’s true that low mortality is a critical metric, in today’s economic environment many other parameters contribute to calf-raising success.

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.

The goal of a properly designed ventilation system should be to provide clean, fresh air at all times for healthy calf development. Ventilation is responsible for removing accumulated heat, moisture, airborne pathogens and noxious gases from the animal’s environment. To achieve the best ventilation outcome, it is important to critically evaluate the environment of the barn.

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

Today, many producers are looking to reduce costs and improve profits on their operations. An area often overlooked is the cost of raising replacement heifers.

Have you ever wondered how valuable feeding a high-quality feed was on calf performance and the impact on your cost of production? We assembled a controlled research study to address this practical topic that was recently published in the Journal of Dairy Science.