Most dairy producers I’ve talked to tell me they farm because they love the outdoors, they love working with animals, they love operating equipment and they love working in the fields. Rarely do I hear it’s because they love producing a high-quality beverage for infants or the elderly.

A primary goal at  Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) is to promote the quality and the great nutritional value of Canadian dairy products. Through advertising, contests, partnerships, educational programs and media relations, DFC promotes Canadian milk products and encourages healthy eating habits.

Whether it is raising calves or deciding on how the parlour is run, I bet there’s some push and pull in the decision-making department of your dairy.

The Canadian government has an ambitious trade agenda. It has negotiated, is currently negotiating or is studying the possibility of negotiating deals with 80 countries. The Canada-Europe trade deal (CETA), which is close to completion, and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) are new-generation trade deals. This means they are planned to be as comprehensive and ambitious as possible, without any preset exceptions – dealing with everything from trade of goods to intellectual property and investment rights.

Best management practices allow all the good things for the baby calf that keep her properly nourished and comfortable as she grows from heifer into her first lactation. We like to think these include automatically good feet and legs that will walk right into the fresh cow group ready to create farm profit.

A large part of managing young calves is their feeding program. It is an important first step to ensure that the milk replacer has been formulated with good-quality milk ingredients for optimal digestion and growth.