When it comes to administering vaccinations, what’s best: a single-use syringe or a multidose tool, like a repeater syringe?

Size especially matters when it comes to needle selection as you treat or vaccinate calves. Needles that are the incorrect length or diameter can cause serious issues.

Expanding working facilities. Switching to a feeding software. Building another sorting pen. Adding calving pens. We all have something we wish we did sooner. Once we finally got around to it, we wonder, “Why the heck did I wait so long?”

Many diseases enter our herds when we acquire new animals and commingle them with our herd. In a cow-calf operation, this often occurs with the addition of new herd sires, replacement females or calves you intend to graft on a cow who lost her calf.

When it comes to bovine respiratory disease, it can be extremely difficult to determine if a sick calf may need a second round of treatment or if the antibiotic should be allowed a few more days to help treat the infection.

Managing dairy calves is truly an art form. The first few weeks of a calf’s life are imperative to how productive that calf will be as an adult, from increased milk during its first lactation to achieving its full genetic potential.

How much are vaccinations worth? Here in north-central Idaho, common killed virus shots for spring branding total nearly $4 per cow and just under $8 per calf from the local vet. With that kind of investment, proper handling has to be a priority for producers.

Most producers know that calfhood pneumonia, or bovine respiratory disease (BRD), is one of the leading health concerns impacting calves on even the best-managed dairies. The disease challenges young calves face when they are most vulnerable can have lifelong productivity and profitability implications.

Fall is officially here, and that means it is time to pull your stockers off pasture. But before you load them up for sale, there are a few practices to consider that will improve the health and profitability of your calves.