In celebration of the 100th anniversary of 4-H in Canada, GenerVations – in conjunction with 4-H Canada – held a drawing for a 2013 4-H calf project.  The drawing was held at the first Canadian Dairy XPO, which took place Feb. 6-7 in Stratford, Ontario. Click here to read more about the XPO.

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.

Dairy producers are invited to attend and support Canada’s first, exclusive national dairy showcase.

The Canadian Dairy XPO will be held Feb. 6-7, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the Stratford Rotary Complex in Stratford, Ontario.

Colostrum management plays a vital role in a successful dairy operation and is an often overlooked opportunity where the returns will greatly outweigh the investment of time and capital.

The single-most important meal a calf will consume in its lifetime is the first feeding of colostrum. This meal is crucial for surviving both the first 24 hours and the first month, when calfhood diseases are most common.

Using technologies to automate routine tasks is common in every industry because automation increases productivity, quality and consistency by minimizing a task’s variability.

As a mediator, I’ve seen some pretty dumb agreements about the home yard. When you are deciding to move away or build a second home on the property, make sure you think things through with your lawyer and have some clear conversations with your successor.

Many dairy families have more than one home on the main yard, yet privacy is still an issue that you can design into your plans.

The common dairy practice is to separate a dairy calf from its dam at birth and place it in individual housing. This helps to protect the calf from pathogens and makes it easy for the calf raiser to monitor, but it limits social contact for the animal.

According to Margit Bak Jensen of Aarhus University in Denmark, early social contact to the dam or social contact to other calves during the milk feeding period has beneficial effects on behaviour and welfare; social contact to other calves also stimulates earlier and larger intakes of solid food.