Meaningful ways to show appreciation to your employees

Posted on October 27, 2023 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
By Ann Hoskins | There are many ways to show your employees appreciation.  Showing employees that you appreciate them will help them feel good about themselves and their work.  Recognition also creates an atmosphere of trust between employees and managers, which builds a positive work environment that fosters collaboration and innovation.

VIDEO: Calf chat with Bethany – Prioritizing your calf program

Posted on January 24, 2023 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
Bethany Dado-Senn, Ph.D. | Watch this video to see how Kendra Agachi's "Lazy Genius" approach can help you prioritize, focus on, and improve your calf care management.

Prevent the challenging heifer cycle (part 2)

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.

Calf chat with Ann (video): What affects passive transfer?

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.

Learning from the swine industry: Starting nursery piglets

Posted on December 16, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
We can often gain helpful knowledge, awareness and practical tips when we look outside of our day-to-day activities. Pat Bane was named America’s Pig Farmer of the Year in 2018. In this article, he shares his insights for successfully raising nursery piglets. By Pat Bane, Bane Family Pork co-owner and manager There is not a more stressful time in a pig’s life than the days following weaning. Anything we can do to lessen that stress is a benefit to the animal.

8 action items to reduce summer calf stressors

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.

Team culture: The greatest competitive advantage

Posted on July 22, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

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.

The Importance of Continuous Employee Development

Posted on June 3, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

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. 

G.O.A.L.-Driven Team Meetings

Posted on March 2, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

By Nellie Mitchell, Granular group customer success manager
If you have ever participated in an unsuccessful team meeting, then you may want to try the G.O.A.L. method to help run an efficient team meeting.

Veterinarian’s Corner: The Secret to Consistent Calf Performance

Posted on March 2, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

By Dr. Sara Barber and Dan Bakker, Foundation Livestock Service
The secret to a best-cost calf program is simple, repeatable systems with timely feedback to frontline staff performing the work. Every problem is the result of a broken process. Fix the process and the problem will go away – every time.

VIDEO: A Day in the Life of a Calf Raiser – Communication

Posted on November 13, 2019 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

In this edition of A Day in the Life of a Calf Raiser, Heidi Fischer of Fischer-Clark Dairy Farm Inc. discusses the tools her team uses to communicate with each other.

Veterinarian’s Corner: Life on the Farm and Maintaining a Healthy Pregnancy…For the People

Posted on September 24, 2019 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

By Dr. Melissa Haag, Lodi Veterinary Clinic
Ensuring a smooth and healthy pregnancy for the calf and its mother is important, but it is also important to do the same for pregnant female farm workers. Here are four ways to accommodate a safe human pregnancy on the farm.

You hold the power of calf nutrition quality control – Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus

Posted on June 28, 2018 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

By Brittany Olson, contributing writer
While cows crave routine in their daily lives, so do calves and heifers.  Hoskins spoke about the need to dial in on quality control for calf nutrition to help improve animal health and performance.

Beyond the Barn: Motivate Your Calf Team – Peter Coyne, Vita Plus

Posted on October 25, 2017 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

By Peter Coyne, Vita Plus dairy field consultant and sales manager
If you are considering implementing an incentive program for your calf team employees as a motivation tool, I would ask you to think again.

Beyond the Barn: How Will Your Team Do This Year? – Peter Coyne, Vita Plus

Posted on August 26, 2016 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

By Peter Coyne, Vita Plus sales manager and dairy field service specialist
Our high school football team had a very successful season last year and only lost one game.

Unfortunately, it was the biggest game of the year; the winner goes to state and the loser goes home. We lost by one point.

Eleven seniors were on that team and I suspect we will need to do some rebuilding this year. Fortunately, we have a great coach who understands kids as well as he understands football. As he and his assistant coaches work with our young, inexperienced team of kids from our community, they will do the same things I see the best dairy managers do on their productions on a daily basis.

Building your best team – Laura Finger, Finger Family Farm LLC, Theo Scholze, Scholze’s Family Farm LLC, and Sherry Arnold, Busse’s Barron Acres

Posted on June 29, 2016 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

By Progressive Dairyman Editor Peggy Coffeen
“Labor management, procuring employees … if it is not your biggest issue today, it will become one of your biggest issues,” Peter Coyne, Vita Plus dairy field service specialist, warned dairy producers at the Vita Plus Calf Summit.

Coyne moderated a panel of three Wisconsin dairy producers who shared how they creatively and successfully recruit, manage and retain a solid team of farm employees. The panel included Laura Finger, Finger Family Farm LLC; Theo Scholze, Scholze’s Family Farm LLC; and Sherry Arnold, Busse’s Barron Acres.