Dairy Calves - News & Insights
Stay updated on the latest dairy calf management strategies. Explore expert advice on colostrum management, calf nutrition, disease prevention, and the beef-on-dairy trend to ensure a healthy, productive future for your herd.
Maternal colostrum is often considered nature’s “perfect food.” But does this “free” resource help calves achieve passive immunity as reliably as the guaranteed ingredients in a bag of colostrum replacer?
Springer heifer trade currently is light nationwide.
Pardon the pun, but dealing with scours can be a real pain in the butt. It’s frustrating, it’s costly, and it can be downright messy at times.
Once farmers get to the field, they will have plenty of tractor time to think about all the challenges that face them. Reach out to your dairy team leaders to to maximize your dairy’s profit while you’re in the field.
Like it or not, feed prices have dramatically risen year-over-year, and leading experts advise producers to gain some control over their feed costs.
It’s important to stay abreast of new research that can influence dairy management practices. That’s what happened recently at Rosy-Lane Holsteins, Watertown, Wis.
With the cost of inflation impacting every corner of a dairy, the producer’s breeding strategy has been forced to become finetuned. More and more producers are keeping just enough replacements to fill the pipeline,.
The cross-cultural bond that agricultural producers share is cultivated and advanced by the Global Farmer Network.
Holstein springer values do not appear to be riding the same up-and-down waves of uncertainty that milk prices recently have.
In the quest to find alternatives to antibiotics to fight disease in dairy calves, essential oils are the subject of a growing body of calf health research.
Bottlenecks and hurdles have been something dairy producers have had to endure. From blockage at shipping terminals and labor availability, one common area that producers have been struggling with is ear tag shortages.
The milk price outlook has been a welcomed change. Increasing the number of cows in the herd may be a way to capture the benefit of high milk prices. However, feed prices and animal behavior should also be considered.
Providing free choice water to newborn calves has been shown to deliver a wide array of benefits in terms of calf health and performance. But it’s also a huge challenge for some farms in the winter.
It is well-known that sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA) is a harmful and costly condition for adult dairy cows. But when calves get SARA, is it bad news for them, too? A Canadian researcher’s conclusion: maybe not.
Though there are many different disinfectants available on the market, one is emerging as the clear cleaner of choice.
A protocol overhaul helped the team at Singing Brook Farms, Imler, Pa., up their game in colostrum delivery. Two of their key managers share how they now seamlessly deliver high-quality colostrum to every newborn calf.
While raising calves in pairs is not cut out for everyone, the benefits are promising.
The dairy, beef, and veal sectors are collaborating to form a first-of-its-kind program to promote the health and welfare of calves throughout the supply chain.
High beef prices over the past few years have further encouraged dairy producers to crossbreed their cows with beef genetics and that has resulted in fewer dairy bull and heifer calves.
Holstein springer prices through January 2022 were a mixed bag that netted out at mostly steady month-over-month.
Learning from their peers, tradition, and strategically embracing new technology were three prominent themes among western Canadian dairy calf raisers.
Consumers are asking more than “Where’s the beef,” the slogan for the fast-food chain, Wendy’s, that debuted in the 1980s. Consumers now want to know where a piece of beef came from and the story behind it.
Habits formed early in life – whether good or bad – often carry through to adulthood. Like little children, calves, too, need to be trained on positive behaviors, including the way they eat.
More and more farms have made the switch from feeding calves individually to group autofed systems. However, disease detection in group-housed calves remains a challenge. Could autofeeders help detect sick calves?
One of the first lessons Penn State’s Tara Felix tries to teach newbie dairy beef feeders is that cattle raised for beef need grain, not forage.
Transplants could create unique, year-round beef marketing opportunity for dairy herds
Simply producing a black calf if not enough if the dairy industry wants to make permanent inroads into successful crossbreeding.
Six things to keep in mind when considering sire and dam selections in a beef x dairy crossbreeding program.
Protecting young calves from winter’s cold and drafts may be done with the best of intentions, but unfortunately it can lead to negative consequences.
As the mercury drops, the nutritional needs of preweaned calves go up.