CALVES & HEIFERS

Scours is responsible for 56.5% of mortality among pre-weaned dairy calves, making it the leading cause of calf death and sickness. How can you make sure your calves’ health, growth and productivity are not affected? Let’s look at some of the ways you can better manage calves to reduce the risk of exposure and illness.

Your total cost to raise calves is an important metric, but it’s especially important when profit margins are tight.

Cold stress occurs when an animal expends energy to stay warm. Newborn calves are most susceptible to cold stress due to their low body fat and ratio of high surface area to body mass.

Have you ever wondered why calves don’t grow as well in the winter as they do at other times of the year?

I read mixing directions on a milk replacer tag recently, and it said “mix at 15% solids” which seems simple enough. But what does “15% solids” mean? Is it 15% by weight or 15% by volume?

Pair raising calves is increasing in popularity in the North American dairy industry, where some welfare and productivity benefits have been consistently shown in recent studies. Pair- or group-housing calves during the milk-feeding phase reduces the age at which calves have contact with other calves.