Whether it’s extreme heat in the summer, extended rainy periods in the spring, or plummeting temperatures in the winter, weather dictates every animal’s needs and a farmer’s daily routine
We buy calf pellets in bags and transfer the pellets into 32 gallon garbage barrels for storage. Each barrel easily holds 100 pounds of pellets. The lid securely snaps on, keeping the pellets fresher
We use this homemade bucket holder made from 1-inch PVC pipes on our dairy. The shorter PVC pipes coming out of the main pipe structure hold all sorts of things. On ours, we store buckets and bottles
At our dairy farm, recently weaned calves would jump out of their pen through the feedbunk. We hooked a gate to the bunk that keeps the calves from jumping out, and the feed can still be put in
The preweaning period is an especially important part of a calf’s life as it sets the animal up for success. What makes up the starter, how it is fed, and what is its impact should all be considered
The 2020 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Annual Meeting was held virtually due to the pandemic. Over 2,300 people attended the online event. Four abstracts related to calves and heifers have
Calves like consistency — consistency in what they are fed, when they are fed, and how they are fed. Similar to human babies, calves crave a regular schedule
Dairy calf care broadly affects behavior, including social interactions and feeding patterns, which impact calf performance and welfare. Miller-Cushon will discuss how early life experiences further influence...
My dad is an avid coffee drinker. We were running low on calf bottle holders, so we came up with an idea to reuse the plastic coffee containers for easier feeding
The 2019 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) Annual Meeting was held in Cincinnati, Ohio, in June. Over 1,800 attendees from more than 60 countries participated
As farms across the country are faced with the reality of dumping milk and reducing production, some are looking to their rations to absorb the extra pounds of production
Heat stress abatement is not a novel concept to those in dairy circles. Decades of research indicate that heat-stressed lactating dairy cows will reduce feed intake and drop milk production
Michael Steele, University of Guelph, presented “Nutritional regulation of gut function in calves: colostrum and milk.” He shared the details about rearing newborn calves, and why those processes...
Individual calf housing is by far the most common form of calf rearing in the country. According to research done by the University of Wisconsin in 2019, 77% of farms raise calves individually
We made this pressure washer gun to wash the insides of our calf bottles on our bottle trailers. It is made so that three bottles can be washed at a time
Everything on a dairy farm begins with a calf. For that reason, in this article we will explore cow-calf research that was presented at the International Society of Applied Ethology (ISA