Every producer wants calves to arrive at the calf ranch healthy and ready to grow. It’s easy to focus on the trip itself, asking questions about bedding, stocking density or how many hours calves will spend on the trailer. According to Dr. Juan Piñeiro, those aren’t the first questions producers and veterinarians should be asking.
A recent retrospective study of nearly 400,000 dairy and beef-on-dairy calves found that management decisions made before transport had a far greater influence on calf health and survival than transport duration itself. The message wasn’t that transport doesn’t matter. Rather, it showed that successful transport begins long before loading day.
“It is not just one variable that will determine calf health. It may not be only transport duration,” says Piñeiro, associate professor and extension dairy specialist at Texas A&M University, during a recent Dairy Cattle Welfare Council webinar. “There are several more things that have to be included.”
That means transport conversations should extend beyond trailer design and travel time. They should start with transition cow management, maternity protocols and calf care during the first few days of life. Transport success can be improved by viewing the journey as the final step in a much longer process.
Here are six areas to evaluate before calves ever leave the dairy.
1. Start with the Dam
Preparing calves for transport starts before they’re born.
Piñeiro emphasizes the importance of fetal programming, explaining that the management of close-up cows has lasting effects on calf health. Nutrition, heat stress, inflammation and overall cow comfort during late gestation all influence the development of organs and the immune system before birth.
“What happens prepartum because fetal programming is part of what will determine calf performance and calf health,” he says.
During the final weeks of gestation, calves are still developing critical immune tissues and protective barriers.
“Those barriers, especially the gastrointestinal tract, are developing in utero,” Piñeiro explains.
That means conversations about transport should begin by evaluating transition cow nutrition, heat abatement strategies and close-up pen management. A healthy calf on loading day is often the product of good management weeks earlier.
2. Give Calves the Strongest Possible Start
The first hours after birth establish the foundation for everything that follows.
In the study, calves originated from dairies that followed consistent newborn management protocols. Maternity pens were kept clean and dry. Navels were disinfected shortly after birth. Birth weights were recorded, calves were identified promptly and colostrum was delivered quickly using standardized procedures.
None of these practices are new, but together they reduce pathogen exposure while helping calves begin life in the best possible condition. Maternity protocols remain one of the most valuable areas to review during herd visits, particularly as more dairies market beef × dairy calves.
3. Make Every Colostrum Feeding Count
Colostrum remains one of the most powerful tools producers have to prepare calves for transport.
In this study, calves that received two colostrum feedings experienced approximately half the risk of diarrhea compared with calves that received only one feeding.
“Feeding two colostrum meals in this study decreased the risk of diarrhea by half,” Piñeiro says.
The finding reinforces that successful colostrum management extends beyond simply measuring passive transfer. Quality, timing, volume and hygiene all contribute to calf health during the first weeks of life.
Veterinarians can help clients evaluate every step of the colostrum program, from collection and storage to feeding protocols and cleanliness. Small improvements during those first hours may pay dividends well beyond transport day.
4. Don’t Assume Every Calf is Ready to Travel
One of the most practical lessons from the study was that calves should meet clear fitness criteria before transport.
Before loading, calves had consumed multiple milk feedings, were bright and alert, showed no signs of illness, could stand and walk without assistance, were adequately hydrated and had healed navels. Calves that failed to meet those standards simply remained behind until they were ready. Rather than relying solely on age to determine transport readiness, veterinarians can help producers develop a standardized go-or-no-go checklist.
A calf that is dehydrated, reluctant to stand or showing early signs of disease is unlikely to benefit from leaving the farm on schedule. Delaying transport by a day or two may ultimately improve both welfare and long-term performance.
5. Keep Disease Off the Trailer
The study’s clearest finding wasn’t about transport duration. It was about disease.
“Calves that have diarrhea have between eight and nine times the odds of dying pre-weaning compared to the ones that did not have diarrhea,” Piñeiro says.
That statistic changes the conversation surrounding calf transport. Instead of asking only how long calves will travel, we should ask whether calves are healthy enough to travel in the first place.
Reducing diarrhea and respiratory disease begins with excellent transition cow management, strong maternity protocols, effective colostrum programs and careful evaluation of each calf before loading. Those practices do more to improve survival than simply reducing hours on the road.
6. Remember that Transport is Only One Piece of the System
The transportation process itself is still important.
Using clean trailers, fresh bedding, appropriate stocking density and careful loading procedures to minimize stress while protecting both calves and employees remain essential practices, but they build on everything that came before.
As Piñeiro summarizes, “Key health-related factors play a much larger role in calf mortality at weaning than transport duration.”
For veterinarians, that means transport discussions should become whole-herd management discussions. For producers, it means recognizing that the trailer is not where transport success begins.
It begins in the close-up pen, continues through the maternity area, depends on a successful colostrum program and is reinforced by careful decisions about which calves are truly ready to travel.
