Let’s talk about first-calf heifers, or, as I like to call them, first-calf velociraptors

Breeding heifers to calve in around 2 years old puts them on a productive track to begin paying off the costs of their rearing and avoid mounting up additional expenses while they remain open

Sometimes on the farm, I just need a bit of good news. For those of you who dairy or have in the past, you know what I mean. A little pick-me-up of good news just hits the spot

Diarrhea remains a common challenge on dairy farms and calf raising operations around the world. This challenge is also costly. At the University of Guelph, we recently completed a study that eva

One of the three largest expenses on a dairy farm is raising replacements, and the greatest cost in that category is the feed it takes to get a heifer from birth to first lactation

Record high feed costs and milk values are challenging traditional thoughts on feed and milk economics. Even though feed costs keep going up and up

When it comes to raising heifers, we don’t want them to grow too slowly – or too fast

Animals can get themselves into tricky situations that require fast thinking and careful maneuvering to remedy

Our busiest time of year is just kicking off

January 2022 was the third straight month that U.S. milk production declined — milk pounds down 1.6% compared to last year represented the largest year-over-year loss in nearly 18 years

A relatively new trend in calf raising is feeding transition milk to calves in early life. Dairy producers have long understood the importance of quickly providing newborn calves with colostrum

Scours is one of the most common calfhood illnesses, and it remains a widespread issue on farms. According to the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association’s Gold Standards, farms should aim for less than...

Without naming names, you can probably think of a sports team that’s been down on its luck recently (or longer). Fans or the media may give them a bit of a break

Heifers can do very well when raised in freestalls, and the overall footprint and bedding requirements of a freestall barn is often smaller than that of loose housing

When feeding heifers, Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Betsy Hicks has four main goals:1. Maintain health2. Achieve rate of average daily gain targets3

A majority of producers in the most recent National Animal Health Inspection Service (NAHMS) survey indicated that they provide heifer calves with 2 quarts or more of colostrum after the initial feeding

Many farms have invested in facilities designed specifically for heifers, providing a space for these herd replacements to be cared for and grow

When heifer inventories are considered, an often-overlooked impact of a smaller heifer inventory is a need to take a closer look at culling rates in the lactating herd

With heifer prices dropping to modern-day record lows in the last several years, many farms have been faced with the question of what to do with extra heifers that aren’t bound for their lactating...

The age at first calving has been trending downward, with many farms aiming to bring heifers into the milking herd at 22 months or even younger