Managing growth is of fundamental importance to the heifer enterprise of a dairy farm. We know a heifer needs to meet certain growth goals by certain points in its life to meet a farm’s production...

Sometimes questions catch you off guard, and this is one that surprises me every time I hear it. “Is milk a good feed for calves?” Basic biology says, yes; milk is the feed intended for calves!

"Treating diarrhea in dairy calves" webinar was presented by Geof Smith, D.V.M., North Carolina State University

We got tired of running to the milking parlor office to get calf treatment supplies, so now we use this basket. Everyone knows where the medicine is, there are easy directions in there on what to brin

Consistently, research shows that the longer calves can be backgrounded (housed and fed individually) before they are put into a group pen setting, the better

From a business standpoint, the most money saved per heifer on a dairy farm can be saved in the weaned pens. This accounts for calves that are weaned up to when they are around 150 days...

Disbudding or dehorning are very common practices in the U.S. dairy industry, for the safety of both animals and humans

There are three critical calf periods. The first period around calving includes the cow, environment, and the whole area of colostrum management

When we move calves into pens with headlocks, sometimes they are hesitant to use them. We started to hook their old grain buckets on the headlocks to encourage them to eat. We also took

It doesn’t take long for a healthy calf to become a sick one. Early detection and treatment of disease can greatly improve the likelihood of success. During a hands-on workshop a

With a lot of calves and a lot of different calf feeders, it can be hard for everyone to keep track of what’s going on with each hutch. When a calf is sick, we wrap a few pieces of bright yellow...

Preweaned calves are the most expensive young stock to feed as measured on a day-to-day basis

Any calf that doesn’t drink its milk, is scouring, or looks a little thirsty gets a bottle of electrolytes

Calves don’t always finish drinking the water we give them. This means their water has to be collected and discarded before milk can be fed. We took a broken lawn mower, removed the eng

There is some good news and some not so good news when it comes to calf feeding. Let’s look at the good news first

A calf is born with a sterile rumen environment void of bacteria, protozoa, and fungi. The calf is first inoculated with microbes during the birthing process and in its new external environment

Most producers can recite how they successfully manage colostrum on their farms, yet accomplishing this protocol consistently can be a major challenge

Weaning is the most important transition a calf has to go through before she enters the milking herd, and it is a nutritionally and socially stressful time

When a newborn calf is moved into its individual pen in the calf barn at Endres Jazzy Jerseys, it is not ear tagged immediately. In order to keep calves correctly identified at the Lodi, Wis., farm, a