What does weather do to your calves?

Posted on April 24, 2023 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
By Bethany Dado-Senn, Ph.D., Vita Plus | Weather impacts a calf's environment as well as the nutrition and management strategies needed to maintain health and performance.

Expert’s corner: Mitigating heat stress in youngstock

Posted on July 28, 2022 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
Dr. Bethany Dado-Senn | The latest concern and next frontier for dairy cattle environmental management is the mitigation of heat stress in youngstock. This has been particularly apparent the past few weeks as most of the Midwest has seen multiple heat waves. If you’re looking to provide heat stress abatement to your calves or heifers, here are a few options you might consider.

VIDEO: Calf Chat with Lucas – Cool dry cows

Posted on July 22, 2021 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
 In this edition of Calf Chat, Dr. Lucas Mitchell explains how heat stress on the dry cow impacts the future growth and performance of her calf. Visit our YouTube channel for more segments of Calf Chat.

Calf care checklist: Identifying dehydration

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

By Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus calf products manager
The earlier the better when it comes to catching dehydration in calves.  Identifying mild dehydration and fixing the problem in the early stages will save you a lot of headaches in the coming days.  Here are common signs of dehydration at different levels of severity.

Calf Care Checklist: Calf Barn Ventilation

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

By Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus calf products manager
The key to a good calf barn ventilation audit is to evaluate the air quality in many different scenarios. Weather can change the calf environment quickly. Monitoring air should be part of your daily checklist.

VIDEO: Calf Chat with Noah – Dry Cow Heat Stress and the Calves

Posted on July 28, 2020 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

In this edition of Calf Chat, Dr. Noah Litherland discusses the effects dry cow heat stress has on calf health and performance.

VIDEO: Calf Chat with Ann – Current Calf Research

Posted on July 17, 2019 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

In this edition of Calf Chat, Ann Hoskins talks with Dr. Jennifer Van Os, University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor and extension specialist in animal welfare, and Kim Reuscher, a dairy science graduate student, about current research projects involving calf hutches and ventilation.  One quick and affordable option for improving hutch ventilation is to install Calf-Tel's calf hutch vent covers, as shown in the video.

VIDEO: Calf Chat with Noah – Heat Stress Tips

Posted on June 20, 2017 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

Midwest calf raisers have already experienced a big bout of hot, humid weather and heat stress in their animals this summer.  In this edition of Calf Chat, Dr. Noah Litherland, Vita Plus dairy youngstock technical specialist, shares his top 10 tips to keep calves healthy when temperatures rise.

VIDEO: A Day in the Life of a Calf Raiser – Dealing with Heat Stress with Jonathon Hallock, MarBec Dairy

Posted on June 20, 2017 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

In this segment of A Day in the Life of a Calf Raiser, Jonathon Hallock, MarBec Dairy, highlights the numerous things his team does to keep calves healthy and strong through periods of hot weather and heat stress.

Regional Calf Report: Central Wisconsin – Cassie Stillman, Vita Plus

Posted on June 20, 2017 in Starting Strong - Calf Care

By Cassie Stillman, Vita Plus Loyal dairy specialist
Summer has finally arrived in central Wisconsin, but we had to first go through some unpleasant weather in May.  Heavy rainfall and cool temperatures made it difficult on calves.  Discussions with our team and on-farm observations point to respiratory problems as one of producers’ main concerns.  In addition, keeping calves hydrated and stress-free with the recent warm weather has become a priority.  Adjusting from one season to another can be very stressful on youngstock if the transition period is not smooth.

Heat stress pre- and post-partum and its effect on calf performance – Dr. Sha Tao, University of Georgia

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

When the summer heat rises, the best strategy on dairy farms is simple:  Keep everyone cool.

Dr. Sha Tao, assistant professor at the University of Georgia at Tipton, has taken in-depth looks at heat stress effects from a variety of angles, starting with his research at the University of Florida.

Negative Effects of Heat Stress on Calves – Dr. Ana Paula Monteiro and Dr. Sha Tao, University of Georgia

Posted on August 27, 2015 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
By Dr. Ana Paula Monteiro, research scientist, and Dr. Sha Tao, Department of Animal and Dairy Science, University of Georgia Although heat stress affects a cow at all stages of her life cycle, farmers usually focus on heat-stressed lactating cows as the decrease in milk production is easily noticed. However, studies have shown that dry

Keeping Calves Cool Through the Summer Heat – Augusta Hagen

Posted on August 29, 2013 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
By Augusta Hagen, Vita Plus dairy nutrition and management fellow We’ve had a moderately cool summer, but we all know that has abruptly changed this last week. Hot days and humidity make for lots of uncomfortable, low-producing cows. To cope in our dairy barns, we have implemented innovative cooling systems to keep our cows comfortable,

Are Your Calves Feeling the Heat of Summer? – Ann Hoskins

Posted on June 26, 2013 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
By Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus calf products coordinator When heat stress hits on the farm, we often look to the cows first.  But did you know that heat stress can hit calves as hard as all the other animals on the farm? Heat-stressed calves may have reduced average daily gains or increased incidence of treatments. 

Regional Calf Report: Eastern Michigan

Posted on November 9, 2012 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
By Laura Zagorski, Dairy Service Specialist Like many areas in the Midwest, Michigan faced above average temperatures and dry conditions this summer. For calf raisers, this has created a need for a greater management emphasis on many of the basics. Even though fresh, clean water is always a vital nutrient required by our calves, it

Are You Catching and Treating Dehydration Soon Enough?

Posted on November 8, 2012 in Starting Strong - Calf Care
By Ann Hoskins, Vita Plus Calf Products Coordinator Recognizing and treating dehydration is key to raising healthy calves. Calves will become dehydrated for many reasons, including summer heat and scours. If you can catch dehydration early, supplemental fluids can get the calf on the road to a quicker recovery. A calf’s body contains 75 to