Starting Strong – Calf Care

By Ann Hoskins, calf program manager Weighing calves is important in benchmarking and evaluating calf performance. In addition to growth rates, weighing calves can help you determine your cost of gain, which is key information for your calf nutrition and management program. Here are some examples of scales that can be used at various points in an animal's life to bechmark its growth.

In this edition, Dr. Lucas Mitchell, Vita Plus dairy calf and heifer specialist, discusses water's role in calf health and growth, and suggests strategies to efficiently provide water in the winter. Visit our YouTube channel for more calf chat segments.

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.

By Dr. Trey Gellert, Four Star Veterinary Service, LLC It is critically important to vaccinate dairy beef calves because these calves may be co-mingled or stressed, or have unknown colostrum intake, colostrum quality, or dairy farm disease pressure. These make the dairy beef calf unique and different compared to typical cow/calf and dairy youngstock.

For this special edition virtual farm tour, we visit a commercial dairy goat farm to compare and contrast management of dairy goats with that of calves and heifers.

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.

By Dr. Noah Litherland, Vita Plus dairy technical services specialist Studying the composition of milk solids intake and calf growth helps us better understand how our feeding program decisions impact efficiency of calf growth. Growth is dependent upon calf health, environment, nutrient intake and composition of nutrients consumed. Rarely has calf growth from milk or milk replacer nutrition been compared within the same study. In this article, I used the NRC calf growth model to calculate calf grwoth across milk replacer and milk replacer programs.

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.

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.

By Dr. Lucas Mitchell, Vita Plus calf and heifer specialist Farmers and calf raisers generally have a very strong understanding of the pros and cons of wehat straw, sawdust, wood shavings and sand as bedding sources because they are so prevalent. However, several alternative bedding materials may be available in your area and their pros and cons are often not as well known. The goal of this article is to highlight some of these alternative bedding materials and outline the pros and cons of each.

In this edition of Calf Chat, Dr. Noah Litherland, dairy technical services specialist, shares his recent experience of working with a herd veterinarian to identify an uncommon cause of loose manure.  Visit our YouTube channel for more editions of Calf Chat.

Pebble Knolls Dairy LLC in Brandon, Wisconsin, is owned and operated by Eric and Danielle Wetzel and Eric’s parents, Richard and Gail Wetzel.  Eric and Danielle’s daughter, Karsyn, began working as the farm’s calf manager three years ago.  As she learns the ins and outs of raising healthy calves, Karsyn continues the farm’s decade-long tradition of mob-feeding calves in group pens.

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.

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.

Everyone knows water is one of six essential nutrients.  However, the magnitude of its importance is often unrealized and, in some situations, downplayed.