If you want to stay ahead of calf health and catch sickness in its earliest stage, University of Minnesota Graduate Student Abbigail Prins offers a handy detection tip.
The “old” AI (artificial insemination) is intended to land cows in the maternity pen. Now, the “new” AI (Artificial Intelligence) is being engaged to monitor them.
Though maternity pens can sometimes feel chaotic to manage, there are additional ways to help minimize stress and create a calmer calving environment for both cow and calf.
Producers have embraced technology for their mature herd, and now more dairies and calf ranches are exploring how to use it to streamline management for the youngest members of their herd – calves and heifers.
Whether you’re building a new calf barn or retrofitting an existing structure, there are measures that can be taken to ensure the best possible calf comfort, welfare, and health.
It’s almost time for the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association’s 2024 Annual Conference, and this year the organization heads to a western location in Westminster, Colo. for the 3-day event.
Gene editing has been used experimentally to produce polled calves and calves with lighter-colored haircoats. Now, USDA researchers, have produced a calf with reduced susceptibility to bovine viral diarrhea virus.
Is there a drug-free way to improve cattle health, feed utilization, reproductive efficiency, and environmental impact, all at the prenatal level? Researchers at North Dakota State University think so.
Routinely monitoring transfer of passive immunity is an effective way to evaluate colostrum management and identify calves with failure of passive transfer.
A recent survey shows that the likelihood of using pain mitigation for common procedures like dehorning, disbudding and castration was directly linked to the human managers’ perception of pain for the animal.
Cryptosporidia is one of the most common scours-causing pathogens in preweaned calves, and, unfortunately, it strikes in the early weeks of life when calves are most vulnerable.
Capturing the benefits of socially rearing calves while avoiding the negative effects of cross-sucking is a challenge. An alternative to keep calves busy? Hay.
The more we learn about the myriad virtues of colostrum, the more of it we want. And if it also could be even higher quality and/or produce higher offspring immunity, that would be even better for calves.
More calves born on dairies than ever before are eventually headed to feedyards these days. Performance and profitability merits sending healthy animals from the calf-rearing stage to the feedlot.
Colostrum’s myriad benefits for calves may be transferrable to an entirely different field: human health. Researchers are discovering the benefits of colostrum in both health nutrition supplements and therapeutic agents.
Solvet Lidoband is approved for use in calves under 250 pounds and in lambs under 50 pounds. The local, soothing anesthesia works for up to 42 days, helping veterinarians and producers improve animal well-being.
Mercer Vu Dairy wanted to utilize group housing and waste milk to raise their preweaned calves with round-the-clock access to milk. Here's how they came up with their own one-of-a-kind system.
A massive question dairy producers often ask themselves is who should be raising replacement heifers. Should they be raised by the producer, contracted out and customed raised, or should they be purchased?
In these tumultuous times of drought, global unrest, and supply chain disruptions, feed grains may not be as plentiful, available, and affordable as we have traditionally enjoyed.
The Cryptosporidium parasite is endemic to even the tidiest dairy farms, and is especially threatening to calf health. But it can be kept at bay in the calf management system with one simple and consistent approach.
After a couple of years of shortages spurred by the pandemic, ear tags from Merck Animal Health are in full production and back up to pre-COVID production levels.
The younger consumers of today may not embrace meat consumption like previous generations, but they are more inclined to seek and pay for high quality. That’s good news for producers selling beef cross calves.
Calves and heifers aren’t as susceptible to heat stress as cows, but they do suffer from it to some degree, and their production is diminished as a result.
Dairy producers have adjusted to uncertainties that face them such as rising feed costs, ongoing labor challenges and navigating a pandemic and its ripple effect. Three producers share how they tackle uncertainties.
Precision dairy technology isn’t just for cows. Autofeeders, activity monitors, and other emerging tools are making it possible to raise calves with the type of individual attention received by the calves of yesterday.
Most producers will tell you their No. 1 goal is simple: strive for cow comfort. That goal continues as dairies look to build a new barn or even retrofit an existing facility. The key is to begin with the end in mind.
Ask 10 dairy producers what they believe is an effective vaccination program for calves, and you’ll likely get 10 unique answers. That’s OK, because there is no effective one-size-fits-all strategy.
With drought and production costs pushing the native beef population to a record low, beef-on-dairy has a huge opportunity to keep the feedlots and processors at full capacity.
Real-time monitoring of the environmental conditions for baby calves during transport would be highly beneficial to their comfort and health. Now, that task is becoming a possibility.
Acidification of milk or milk replacer is a common practice for some calf raisers, with some studies showing it improves weight gain and fecal scores in calves.
It may seem far-fetched and highly impractical in the U.S. But raising calves with their dams is happening at a growing pace on commercial dairies around the world.
Detecting respiratory disease in calves early – when treatment is most effective – should start by examining the head and facial features, according to veterinarian Tiago Tomazi with Merck Animal Health.
Heifers are the future of your milking herd. They need your attention and management. Remember, bigger is better, and to achieve that we need good feed management, reproduction and environment.