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 […]
Smart Calf Rearing Conference This is the second installment on the proceedings of the 2023 Smart Calf Rearing Conference. Check the calf blog for the first one if you haven’t already read it. This installment features a summary of the presentations in Nutrition, Behavior and Sustainability of our Calf Management Systems. Nutrition Dr. Michael Steele […]
Smart Calf Rearing Conference Scientists, dairy industry personnel and calf growers recently gathered in Germany for 3rd Smart Calf Rearing Conference and the first since 2019. The conference began with the Nuemuhler Calf Practice Day hosted by hofgut neumuhle near Munchweiler. This program was attended by over two hundred people with a program focused on […]
The calf autofeeder system provides “opportunities” to better manage one’s calf proactively through the availability and use of data. Take a few minutes to start each day by reviewing these core areas.
