Business and economics

By John Tramburg, Vita Plus vice president operations
How you practice defines how you play.  How you feel defines how you perform.  Culture can be described as the feeling we have about different aspects of our lives. How does culture affect a business?  Significantly.

Like many students across the U.S., Nathan and Anthony Kuehl were thrust into the world of virtual learning in the spring of 2020 as COVID-19 closed in-person classrooms.  The boys chose to make lemonade from the sour situation and seized an opportunity to develop their farming and entrepreneurship skills.

By Scott Schwefel, Discover Yourself, Inc. CEO, CSP
Imagine going to the hospital and learning that the doctors hadn’t received any training since their first day on the job - would you stay?  Continual employee training to stay up to date in job skills, new technology and new processes is absolutely vital for every business. 

By Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus calf products manager
The best way to save on calf starter without sacrificing growth and performance is to limit waste.  These seven steps can help you save money on calf starter.

Pagel's Ponderosa Dairy in Kewaunee, Wisconsin is the largest family-owned dairy farm in Wisconsin.  They milk 5,400 cows and raise around 3,300 calves at their calf ranch.  Attendees of the Vita Plus Calf Summit Preconference Farm School had the opportunity to tour different areas of the farm and learn from members of the Pagel's team and other industry experts.

By Jenna Hurty-Person, Progressive Dairyman
Minimizing heifer raising costs without sacrificing heifer quality can be a challenge for dairies.  Akins shared some heifer rearing opportunities he sees to improve current practices.

By Dr. Noah Litherland, Vita Plus dairy youngstock specialist
Feed cost per pound of gain is an important metric to know how to calculate and manipulate to optimize the value of your nursery calf feeding program.  Luckily, it is easy to calculate, if you know the right numbers.

By Dr. Noah Litherland, Vita Plus dairy youngstock technical specialist
Heifer weight at calving is an important determinant of first lactation performance.  Our goal is to achieve 82 percent of mature size to achieve 80 percent of mature cow milk yield.  Having a plan and setting benchmarks for heifer growth and development is key to successful replacement heifer development.  The list below summarizes phases of growth and target weight at the end of each growth phase, as well as important highlights and factors that affect growth in each phase.

By Jeff Winkler, Vita Plus operations leader, and Dr. Noah Litherland, Vita Plus dairy youngstock technical specialist
Calf raisers on operations of all sizes are looking at bulk calf starter storage.  Bulk calf starter has some advantages over bagged starter, including decreased price per ton (no bagging costs), no empty bags to deal with, and the convenience of bulk starter available right there on your farm.  Here are some key questions to ask as you consider construction of on-farm starter grain storage structures. 

By Gary Sipiorski, Vita Plus dairy development manager
Transferring a dairy farm to the next generation can be complicated.  No one wants to make it difficult, but the process involves many details.  Written terms and agreements must be done properly. 

Help is out there to assist with a farm transfer of any type.  Each farm and family is different.  Three key people should be involved in the process, which will take a year or more to complete depending on the assets and complexity.

In this segment of A Day in the Life of a Calf Raiser, Jonathon Hallock, MarBec Dairy, explains the decision-making process that led to the construction of the farm's four-row calf barn.

For most farms, keeping every replacement heifer probably doesn’t make the most sense.  However, deciding which and how many heifers to sell is different for every farm and depends on the goals you have for your operation.  During a panel discussion at Vita Plus Calf Summit, three producers shared their strategies for the heifer program.