Posted on June 27, 2024 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
Refrigerating or freezing excess high-quality colostrum (greater than 22% Brix reading) is a great way to ensure each newborn calf receives this vital nutrition at birth. Because high temperatures can destroy immunoglobulins (IgGs) and other nutrients, colostrum should be carefully thawed and warmed before feeding it to the calf.
Posted on October 27, 2023 in Calf and heifer nutrition
By Bethany Dado-Senn, Ph.D., Vita Plus | When a calf consultant talks about the importance of colostrum, it’s reminiscent of the “eat vegetables” lecture from the doctor or the “floss daily” reminder from the dentist; these tasks are important for our health, but it’s not always clear why.
Posted on August 4, 2023 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
The owners of McAllister Family Dairy in New Vienna, Iowa, wanted to build a new calf care facility that could provide the best environment possible for raising healthy calves. When designing the facility, they focused on excellent ventilation and labor efficiency. In early 2022, calves moved into the new barn, which has space for 98 pre- and post-weaned calves. The farm managers are pleased with how the facility has met their goals in the last 18 months.
Posted on April 26, 2023 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
Between 20 and 40 calves are born each day at Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy, LLC in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. With exceptional animal care as a top priority on the farm, the team continually looks for opportunities to learn, evolve, and adopt new strategies to minimize stress – both for the animals and the employees – during each calving.
Posted on October 19, 2022 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
Dr. Bethany Dado-Senn | If your farm has a seasonal decrease in colostrum production across the late-fall and early-winter months, the following proactive steps can help you maintain a constant supply of high-quality colostrum for your valuable replacement herd.
Posted on July 27, 2022 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
Dr. Noah Litherland | A challenging heifer cycle occurs when a portion of the heifer development phase does not go as planned and results in heifers that have lower-than-expected rates of growth, lung consolidation, or increased rate of non-completion of first lactation. The net result is often a reduced return on investment from the heifer program. This article, the second in a two-part series, discuss the impacts of management, labor and facilities.
Posted on April 13, 2022 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
In this edition, Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus calf program manager, discusses the factors that affect passive transfer beyond how much IgG is fed to the calf.
Posted on February 10, 2022 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
By Dr. Noah Litherland, Vita Plus dairy technical services
Respiratory disease is one of the primary challenges to successful heifer calf development. Maintaining intestinal integrity (protecting the gut) appears to be one path to protecting the lungs and decreasing respiratory disease risk. Thus, one goal of calf nutrition is to maintain intestinal integrity.
Posted on December 17, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
In this edition, Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus calf program manager, walks us through two simple strategies to ensure your high-temp or batch pasteurizer is doing the job it is meant to do.
Posted on December 16, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
By Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus calf program manager
Years of research prove the immense, long-term impact high-quality colostrum has on the health and performance of calves – the future of your herd. Maternal colostrum is a high-value asset on your farm. Unfortunately, that asset often runs short this time of year as many farms see a slump in colostrum production between November and February. Farms need to have a “plan B” in place as they don’t want to short calves on this vital nutrition.
Posted on October 8, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
Vita Plus SerPass 150 and SerPass 200 premium calf colostrum replacers fully mix in less than 30 seconds and conveniently deliver more immunoglobulins per dollar in a single 2-quart feeding. To learn more, contact your Vita Plus consultant or dealer consultant, check our our product brochure, or call 800.362.8334.
Posted on October 6, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
The team at Keeler Dairy in McBride, Michigan, tests all maternal colostrum and stores it in a chest freezer according to its quality score. This ensures that the youngest calves receive the highest-quality colostrum. Lower-quality colostrum is reserved for second and third feedings.
Posted on July 22, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
By Dr. Noah Litherland, dairy technical services specialist
Heat stress can have significant impacts on dairy calf health and growth. Here are eight action items to reduce the negative impacts of summer heat.
Posted on November 23, 2020 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
In this edition of A Day in the Life of a Calf Raiser, Jill Houin discusses the Homestead Dairy, LLC maternity protocols and how they give the calves a successful start to life.
Posted on September 18, 2020 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
In this edition of Calf Chat, Ann Hoskins discusses colostrum slumps and what calf raisers can do when enough quality colostrum isn't readily available.