Latest News From Dairy Calves

New Artificial Intelligence Technology Meets the Maternity Ward
New Artificial Intelligence Technology Meets the Maternity Ward

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.

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Facility Focus: The Best Way to Better Manage Group Maternity Pens for Calmer Calvings

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.

Uniting Technology with the Youngest Herd Members on Your Farm
Uniting Technology with the Youngest Herd Members on Your Farm

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.

America's Heifer Shortage is Preventing Expansion. Is the Big Money for Beef-on-Dairy a Factor?
America's Heifer Shortage is Preventing Expansion. Is the Big Money for Beef-on-Dairy a Factor?

Higher prices for beef calves are incentivizing dairy producers to breed crossbred bull calves

Springers Mixed Despite Lower Inventories
Springers Mixed Despite Lower Inventories

The total U.S. dairy replacement heifer herd is down about 14,000 head compared to the start of 2023.

The Plywood Guide (And 6 Other Helpful Calf Barn Tips)
The Plywood Guide (And 6 Other Helpful Calf Barn Tips)

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.

DCHA Heads West for 2024 Conference
DCHA Heads West for 2024 Conference

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.

BVDV-Resistant Calf Created Through Gene Editing
BVDV-Resistant Calf Created Through Gene Editing

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.

The Microbiome: The Next Big Frontier in Cattle Improvement
The Microbiome: The Next Big Frontier in Cattle Improvement

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.

How to Increase the Marketability of Beef-on-Dairy Calves
How to Increase the Marketability of Beef-on-Dairy Calves

No matter when beef cross calves are being sold, steps can be taken to make them more marketable.

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How a Spreadsheet Can Help Simplify Calf TPI Tracking

Routinely monitoring transfer of passive immunity is an effective way to evaluate colostrum management and identify calves with failure of passive transfer.

Are You What's Standing in the Way of Pain Mitigation?
Are You What's Standing in the Way of Pain Mitigation?

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.

3 Offense Tools to Control Crypto in Calves
3 Offense Tools to Control Crypto in Calves

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.

Two Reasons Why Feeding Hay Could Help Alleviate Cross-Sucking
Two Reasons Why Feeding Hay Could Help Alleviate Cross-Sucking

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 Calving Corner Shares Real-time Births in Pennsylvania
The Calving Corner Shares Real-time Births in Pennsylvania

A consortium of dairy industry leadership groups is bringing the birth of dairy calves to life for consumers in Pennsylvania.

FDA Grants Approval for Replacement Heifer Starter Enhancements
FDA Grants Approval for Replacement Heifer Starter Enhancements

A popular combination of enhancements in calf starter rations has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for replacement heifers.

Dairy Heifer Supply Tightens
Dairy Heifer Supply Tightens

Heifer availability has tightened, and prices have increased substantially. One reason is the interest that has developed in beef-on-dairy calves.

Calf Microbial Supplements: Sorting out the “Pre,” the “Pro,” and the “Post”
Calf Microbial Supplements: Sorting out the “Pre,” the “Pro,” and the “Post”

In both human and veterinary medicine, we’re hearing more about the benefits of gut supplements to support health, performance, and well-being.

Can We Improve Colostrum Through Dam Nutrition?
Can We Improve Colostrum Through Dam Nutrition?

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.

Nine Ways to Help Resuscitate A Newborn Calf
Nine Ways to Help Resuscitate A Newborn Calf

After a typical birth a calf should breathe within 30 seconds of delivery. If it doesn't, be ready to intervene and provide extra support.

It Pays to Prevent Respiratory Disease in Feedlot-Bound Cattle
It Pays to Prevent Respiratory Disease in Feedlot-Bound Cattle

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.

Waste Milk: Freebie or Foible?
Waste Milk: Freebie or Foible?

Waste milk is not necessarily the “free lunch” it is often perceived to be, and may actually be a quite harzardous and costly liquid ration option.

Calves May Have to Share Their Colostrum with Humans
Calves May Have to Share Their Colostrum with Humans

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.

New Lidocaine-Infused Band Reduces Castration Pain, Discomfort
New Lidocaine-Infused Band Reduces Castration Pain, Discomfort

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.

Acidification Allows 24/7 Milk Access for These Calves
Acidification Allows 24/7 Milk Access for These Calves

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.

Who Should Be Raising Replacement Heifers?
Who Should Be Raising Replacement Heifers?

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?

Oat Shortages May Dictate Starter Grain Alternatives
Oat Shortages May Dictate Starter Grain Alternatives

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.

Try to Keep Dry to Prevent Crypto
Try to Keep Dry to Prevent Crypto

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.

The Evolution of Dairy Calf Nutrition
The Evolution of Dairy Calf Nutrition

We don’t feed dairy calves the way we used to, and that’s a very good thing, according to calf industry consultant Dave Kuehnel.

Seven Tips to Help Calves Beat the Heat
Seven Tips to Help Calves Beat the Heat

The heat is on, and calves feel it, too. Here are five strategies to help calves cope as summer sizzles on.

Allflex Reports Ear Tags Are Back in Full Production Mode
Allflex Reports Ear Tags Are Back in Full Production Mode

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.

Beef Cross Calves: Just What the Consumer Ordered
Beef Cross Calves: Just What the Consumer Ordered

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.

Beating the “Summer Slump”
Beating the “Summer Slump”

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.

Slow-Flow Nipples Mimic Natural Milk Flow
Slow-Flow Nipples Mimic Natural Milk Flow

There’s a new equipment option for raising preweaned dairy calves, and it’s a far cry from the pocket-knife-slice approach of the past.

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Well-Grown Heifers Bring More Value

Raising heifers is expensive, to be sure. But in the long run, raising them right is far more important than raising them cheap.

Dairy Producers Share How They Tackle Uncertainties
Dairy Producers Share How They Tackle Uncertainties

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.

New Genetic Defect Discovered in Holsteins
New Genetic Defect Discovered in Holsteins

The Holstein breed is wrestling with the phenomenon of a newly identified genetic defect for Recumbency.

Four Tips for Cleaning and Storing Calf Jackets
Four Tips for Cleaning and Storing Calf Jackets

With temperatures rising from coast to coast, now is the time to wash and put away all of the calf jackets used over winter.

Calf Nutrition: Supplement Strategies that Work
Calf Nutrition: Supplement Strategies that Work

What dietary supplements are best for preweaned calf rations? Out of the literally hundreds from which to choose, do any of them really work?

The Old is New Again in Calf Management
The Old is New Again in Calf Management

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.

Surplus Calves Need More Support
Surplus Calves Need More Support

Surplus dairy calves – those not intended for breeding – are their own, unique subset of the dairy industry.

Build a Better Barn to Build a Better Cow
Build a Better Barn to Build a Better Cow

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.

7 Tips for More Effective Vaccination Programs in Calves
7 Tips for More Effective Vaccination Programs in Calves

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.

How Can I Make Money with Beef-on-Dairy?
How Can I Make Money with Beef-on-Dairy?

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.

A New Tool for Better Calf Transport
A New Tool for Better Calf Transport

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.

Does Acidification Improve Colostrum?
Does Acidification Improve Colostrum?

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.

Cow-Calf Contact Systems are a Global Reality
Cow-Calf Contact Systems are a Global Reality

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.

Mixology Matters with Milk Replacer
Mixology Matters with Milk Replacer

It may not be a fancy cocktail, but accurate mixology is important for calf milk replacer, too.

The Eyes Have It When Detecting Early Calf Respiratory Disease
The Eyes Have It When Detecting Early Calf Respiratory Disease

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.

Strategic Management of Your Future Milking Herd
Strategic Management of Your Future Milking Herd

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.