CALVES & HEIFERS

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 litres of milk or milk replacer.

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.