Making the switch from bottle or bucket feeding to an autofeeder system is a big transition — for both calves and calf feeders. We’re used to calves bellowing for their morning bottle, hungry after 12 hours without milk. But that’s not normal for mammals.
What’s normal? Frequent, smaller meals — just like they’d get from their mothers.
That’s where the 40FIT ad libitum feeding plan comes in.
Is your calf program due for a rethink? After decades of individual housing and restricted milk feeding, dairy consultant Robert James challenges the status quo. He explores the benefits of group housing, automated feeders, and data-driven management — all aimed at improving calf health, labor efficiency, and long-term performance. Discover why now might be the time for change.
Small daily actions can have a big impact. Learn how to build an effective monitoring routine using your calf autofeeder system. This week’s tip focuses on health checks, data interpretation, and maximizing the value of your technology—one step at a time.
Summer heat can be just as challenging for calves as winter cold. This article explores how rising temperatures affect calf feeding behavior, nutrition, and facility conditions—and offers practical solutions to help you maintain intake, ensure diet quality, and support both calves and caretakers during hot weather.
Headblogger Bob James joins the Hoard’s Dairyman Podcast to explore how to give calves the best start. From early-life nutrition to automated feeding, discover practical tips to boost calf health and performance. A must-listen for modern dairy farmers!
When it comes to feeding young calves, choosing between whole milk and milk replacer isn’t as simple as it seems. This post breaks down the pros and cons of each option—from nutrition and sanitation to labor and cost—helping you make the right decision for your farm management style and calf health goals.
New Article by Dr. Bob James in Progressive Dairy! Can beef teach us how to better raise dairy replacements: Calving environment and newborn management Dr. Bob James explores what the beef industry can teach us about raising dairy replacements in his latest article, “Can beef teach us how to better raise dairy replacements: Calving environment […]
Can we feed calves better? Research and the experiences of progressive calf managers have shown the benefits of feeding more milk. However, this practice has not always been successful, particularly in calves managed in individual pens or hutches. These systems rely on feeding twice and rarely three times a day, frequently with long intervals between […]
Preweaned calves and technology ? Tremendous advances in the use of technology to better manage dairy cattle, cropping and other areas of dairy farming have recently been featured in the popular press. What about technology in calf management? How has calf management changed in the past 5 – 10 years?? For many years, the number […]
Are you a calf manager or a calf feeder? First, let’s start with some definitions. The calf feeder is the person who does their job. They aren’t recognized for either great or poor calf care. It’s a “low ranking” job on the farm. A calf manager sets goals, analyzes data, evaluates their resources and allocates […]
Keep it clean! All too often we tend to be too casual about cleanliness in raising preweaned calves, ESPECIALLY during their first week of life. Remember that this is a very young animal with a “biology” that’s not too different from human infants! They are born with a very limited (if any) microbiome that is […]
Calves and heat stress It’s only May, but it’s time to prepare for heat stress. There are several key points to address. Start with the dry cow. Research in Florida has shown that calves born from “cooled” cows were more efficient in absorbing colostrum IgG, had higher birth weights, greater survival to 1st lactation and […]
The first days of the calf’s life! A large measure of success of the calf program is determined by the colostrum program. For the purpose of this post, we will assume that you are doing a great job there with more than 70% of he serum proteins above 5.8 g/dl. What else can be done […]
When I visit farms, although we all know what needs to be done we I continue to see farms with substantial levels of failure to absorb colostrum antibodies. Success means developing a system which is nearly fail proof!
What does it “cost” to raise a calf? Traditionally we have viewed calf rearing as an expensive proposition. Daily costs are high due to feed and labor. Milk and milk replacer are expensive and caring for calves is very labor intensive. To achieve low-cost goals, we have limit-fed milk or milk replacer to encourage early […]
Managing calves during cold weather! It’s cold outside! What have you done to take care of your calves during cold weather? This blog will start with a general discussion regardless of the system used and then conclude with a few tips on using the features of autofeeders to better address winter conditions. The biggest thing […]
Weaning calves successfully! Feeding and managing preweaned calves is expensive on a per day basis. Fortunately, it’s a relatively short time in the life of the calf and a minor percentage of total rearing expenses. Traditionally, the goal for preweaned calf management has been to encourage rumen development and early weaning to reduce these expenses […]
Water is important! Often we pay attention to small details in our feeding management of calves and overlook “simple” things of great importance! This is the case with water, regardless of whether you manage calves in individual pens or group housing. The fundamental recommendation is simple. Provide plenty of fresh, clean water at all times […]
Keep it clean!! Our discussions pertaining to calf management frequently focus on nutrition, milk or milk replacer, colostrum, vaccinations, feed additives……. Rarely do we consider the impact of hygiene on our success in raising calves. For this post, let’s consider the impact of hygiene on calf health and growth. Calving environment – While in utero […]
When is the best time to introduce calves to the autofeeder? There are two views to consider when making this decision. Traditionally it’s been highly recommended to keep calves housed individually for health reasons. Typically, calves have some mild scours sometime during the first 10 days of life, likely due to delays in development of […]
What have “autofeeders” taught me about feeding dairy calves? Most of us that have fed calves have a similar impression of “what’s normal” for feeding calves and calf behavior. What was “normal”? We fed them twice a day. We fed two quarts (liters) per feeding. We did this because milk or milk replacer was expensive […]
Hi, I’m Dr. Bob James… welcome back. As we kick off the calf blog, I want to let you know a bit about the content and what format we will use over the next year. Read more…
