When beef‑on‑dairy calves first started moving off of dairy farms and onto the next stage of life, they didn’t get much attention. But today, these crossbred calves represent a significant revenue stream for dairy producers, bringing their early-life care into sharper focus.
“Beef-on-dairy calves have exploded in popularity,” says Melissa Cantor of Penn State University. “Holstein bull calves are worth good money, but the beef-on-dairy [market] has really exploded. We saw $1,500 prices for calves here in the Northeast in the past couple weeks.”
When calves are bringing in that kind of money, what happens early on matters — especially around bovine respiratory disease (BRD) issues. During a recent “The Dairy Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast,” Cantor spoke on how even mild respiratory disease early in life can leave a lasting mark that follows beef-on-dairy calves all the way to the packing plant.
Early Respiratory Disease Starts Small
Despite their rising value, many beef-on-dairy calves still receive minimal nutrition early in life. Cantor notes they are often limit-fed and given lower-quality colostrum. At the same time, respiratory disease often spikes around weaning, when stress, nutrition and environment collide.
“We see a lot of respiratory disease around weaning,” Cantor says. “So, we wanted to know: how does that affect long-term growth, and is there something we should change in how we raise these calves?”
To answer that question, Cantor’s team followed 145 beef-on-dairy calves from early life through slaughter. The team used ultrasound around weaning to spot any early signs of respiratory disease. However, when disease was identified, it often looked minor.
“It was just very early lung consolidation — about one centimeter,” Cantor explains. “It’s basically a tiny spot on the lung. The calves still looked healthy. But as a dairy farmer, you’d probably never notice it. Maybe they’d cough a little, but that’s about it.”
In the study, about 25% of the calves showed this level of lung consolidation, which Cantor says is typical for weaning-age animals. But while it appeared mild, it still had consequences.
Feedlot Performance Can Be Misleading
When the calves moved on to the feedlot level, researchers tracked how they ate and grew to see if early respiratory disease showed up later. They monitored feed intake, weight gain and finishing weights.
“We weighed them when they arrived at the feedlot, and we knew what their dry matter intakes were,” Cantor says. “Dry matter intake, acclimation to the diet, average daily gain in the feedlot, finishing weight — they were all the same despite if the calves had respiratory disease or not. We were shocked.”
In other words, calves that had been sick early in life caught up in growth. By the end of the feeding period, they looked just as productive as calves that had never shown signs of respiratory disease.
However, this changed at slaughter.
“We followed these crossbreds all the way out to slaughter, and we actually had carcass tracing on those animals,” Cantor says. “We were able to look at carcass dressing weight and marbling, which is huge.”
That’s where the impact of that early respiratory disease became clear.
“What was so interesting to me is that the marbling in those animals that had respiratory disease was less,” Cantor says.
Lower marbling leads to a lower carcass grade, reducing the animal’s final value.
“If we have a lower marbling score and a lower carcass grade, you’re going to get paid less for that animal, or even potentially get discounted,” Cantor says. “This is how these beef producers are being paid, and no one’s ever thought about managing respiratory disease to deal with these long-term effects.”
So why does early respiratory disease leave this lasting mark? One explanation Cantor offers relates to how calves use energy during critical stages of development. Even when intake and average daily gain even out, healthier calves can direct more energy toward fat deposition, while calves fighting illness may divert nutrients to support their immune system instead.
In short, when calves fight disease during these windows of fat cell development, nutrients may be redirected away from marbling, leaving them with lower carcass quality even if their growth appears normal later in life.
Spotting and Preventing BRD
While early respiratory disease can be easy to overlook, even mild cases can lower marbling and carcass grade at slaughter, reducing the animal’s value long after it leaves the dairy. And while this may not seem like a major concern for dairies that sell calves early, calf ranchers and buyers may avoid sourcing animals from farms with a history of BRD.
Because early cases can be easy to miss, it helps to watch for these symptoms:
- Increased or labored breathing
- Coughing
- Ear droop
- Nasal or eye discharge
- Lethargy
- Poor appetite
- Fever
- Diarrhea
- Isolation from the group
To help reduce the risk of respiratory disease, focus on these prevention steps:
- Provide adequate, high-quality colostrum
- Maintain consistent milk feeding
- Follow vaccination programs
- Provide ample, dry bedding
- Ensure proper ventilation
- Keep housing draft-free
- Maintain clean, sanitary facilities
- Detect and treat disease early
- Keep low stocking densities
- Minimize stressors
For dairy farmers and calf ranches, early‑life management still matters, even if the calf leaves the farm soon after birth. Investing in colostrum, nutrition, housing and respiratory disease prevention protects not only calf health but also long-term value.
