Immunity in a healthy and strong calf begins before birth. Producers often focus on the pathogens that create disease in young calves, but the focus needs to shift to a holistic approach in building up immunity through colostrum, nutrition, the calving process, environment and management.

Some producers are good at getting calves out alive, and some are not. Good calving technique is not something you learn in school, it is something you learn by experience – and it is always better to learn from someone else’s experience.

The author of this post, Sam Leadley, is a calf and heifer management consultant with Attica Veterinary Clinic in Attica, New York. Leadley blogs about calf care issues at http://dairycalfcare.blogspot.com Well, I’m back in the U.S. at the Attica Vet Clinic. But my head is still in Haverfordwest, Wales, at the farmer meeting last Friday.

This article was #15 of the Top 25 most well-read articles on www.progressivedairy.com in 2013. It was published in the May 1, 2013 print issue. Click here for the full list of the Top 25. Buckeye, Arizona, dairyman Wes Kerr shared his passion for polled genetics in this feature article. He explained that by eventually eliminating dehorning through breeding polled, his farm would see advantages in calf labor and take a step in the right direction of animal welfare. We asked Kerr, Q. What progress has been made in your polled breeding program?

The University of Guelph has just completed the data collection phase of a large study designed to increase understanding of clinical and subclinical pneumonia and its long-term effects in dairy calves through the use of ultrasonography. This study comes as a follow-up to a pilot project in which roughly 14 percent of calves with pneumonia showed minimal or no signs of illness (like the calf pictured at right). Unfortunately, identifying cases of subclinical pneumonia and measuring its effects are impossible without tools that specifically detect consolidated, pneumonic lung – such as ultrasonography.

Often, when we speak of generations, we are referring to the generations past.