A newborn calf instinctively wants to suckle. The cow’s first feeding is colostrum, and it is vital to his survival. Calves that obtain adequate colostrum soon after birth stay healthier than calves that are slow to suckle or don’t get enough.

If you have a favorite sports team, it is likely that at some point you have thought a certain player either needed to make major improvements or be replaced in order to fix a weakness and win more games.

Disease risks on the dairy farm constantly change. Therefore, it’s important to evaluate and update vaccination protocols regularly with your veterinarian to protect heifers and cows against the challenges they face as they enter the breeding herd.

Calves are the future of your dairy. Using the tools available to build a calf’s immunity within the first days and weeks of life can help set them up for a lifetime of production. Building an effective vaccination protocol can help calves through times of stress and help them be more resistant to the harmful pathogens encountered throughout life.

Eliminating spores that cause clostridial disease from a cattle herd’s environment is virtually impossible. Successful treatment of an infected animal is rare, and the first sign is usually death. However, with proper management and vaccination, producers can prevent losses associated with clostridial diseases.

The 21st Annual Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference was held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on April 24 and 25, 2012. This annual conference provided its 450 attendees the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of nutrition topics, including talks on nutrition and milk composition, forage management, dairy farm profitability and timely topics such as use of automatic calf feeders.