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Progressive Dairyman recently reached out to several industry researchers to provide up-to-date information about automatic calf feeding. Roundtable participants include:
Tom Earleywine, technical services director for Land O’Lakes Animal Milk Products, who recently gave a presentation on automatic calf feeding at the Mid-Atlantic Nutrition Conference
Mike Van Amburgh, associate professor of animal science at Cornell University, where the dairy research herd utilizes an automatic calf feeder
Miriam Weber Nielsen, professor of dairy management and physiology at Michigan State University, who provided tips for raising calves with automatic feeders at the Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference
In this month’s column, usually written by Executive Director John Frey, the Center for Dairy Excellence invited summer intern Rebecca Shaw to share what she learned during a recent visit to the Marcho Farms facility.
The operation is based in Franconia, Pennsylvania, and processes more than 1,500 veal calves a week. Center staff visited the facility with the intention of learning more about the veal industry and the connection between the veal and dairy industries.
As an intern at the Center for Dairy Excellence, I have the opportunity to engage in the dairy industry at many levels – from visiting local dairy farms to talking with state legislators to engaging in meetings with stakeholders from all facets of the industry.
Replacement heifer feeding programs must be designed to allow heifers to be bred efficiently, calve out by 24 months old and produce to their maximum potential.
To achieve this, heifers must be fed to grow at a high rate while not becoming overconditioned, as well as to remain healthy.
The costs of replacement dairy heifer rearing are second only to the feed costs of lactating cows, representing 15 to 20 percent of total farm operational expenses. Of these costs, feed represents the greatest expense in heifer-rearing costs.
This article was #23 of the Top 25 most well-read articles on www.progressivedairy.com in 2012. to jump to the article. It was published in the May 20, 2012 Extra. Click here for the full list of the Top 25.
Because of concerns with allergic reactions and potential toxicity, dairy producers had started to rethink their iodine protocol in navel dipping, says Innovacyn’s technical manager Scott Hand. But it was two events unrelated to the dairy industry that forced many to pursue other options.
Timely calving – to have first-calf heifers enter the milking string at 22 to 24 months old – is not a stand-alone decision.
It’s not like producers wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll breed my heifers once they hit 12 months old.” This decision needs to take a number of factors into account to capitalize on production efficiencies to have replacement heifers “breeding rod ready” at 12 months old.
Getting calves off to a great start means paying attention to all the little details or “sweating the small stuff.” The young ones seem especially sensitive to changes in management, diet and even weather.
The results of lapses in management largely depend on the age of the calf and its surroundings. Early in life, management problems usually manifest themselves as diarrhea whereas, after weaning, respiratory problems are more typical.
The common thread that ties together management issues, pathogen exposure and incidence of disease is the animal’s immune response. Healthy, properly fed and well-managed calves maintain strong immunity; thus, when they’re exposed to a potentially disease-causing pathogen, their immune system is strong and robust.
Although easy to remember, the 4-4-4 rule in colostrum management is often difficult to put into practice. This rule states that the cow should be milked the first four hours after calving and that the calf should be provided with 4 quarts of high-antibody colostrum within four hours after birth.
Scientific explanations backing up that rule are quite simple:
1. Immunoglobulins G (IgG) present in high amounts in mammals’ blood are transferred into the colostrum during its production. However, the concentration of IgG in colostrum varies enormously from animal to animal and also depends on colostrum milking time and on water dilution effects.
Dairy producers battle daily with the devastating performance and economic effects of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in their herds. According to the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS), respiratory disease (commonly known as pneumonia) is the most important disease in calves older than 30 days.
It results in an average loss of $15 per calf per year. While the battle continues, dairy producers have made significant improvements in respiratory disease management.
Following the 2007 NAHMS survey, we polled dairy producers from 23 states about respiratory calf care. The survey represented more than 775,000 calves from 174 operations.
Raising quality dairy replacement heifers is not an inexpensive or simplistic endeavor. If your goal is to rear heifers that reach desired breeding parameters early so that animals begin puberty, establish a pregnancy and calve easily and on time, you must be aggressive in your heifer management program.
Plus, you must accomplish these objectives at a reasonable cost. Feed cost is generally the largest expense for raising replacement heifers, and margins require that dairies be prudent when managing heifer growth and performance. However, while daily rearing cost is important, it is really only part of the picture.
The Grober Young Animal Development Center opened its doors in 2009 with the mission of uncovering and presenting best rearing practices for young animals. Over the past three years, approximately 300 calves, 40 lambs and 40 kid goats have resided at our Woodstock facility for the purpose of conducting nutritional and management research.
We have partnered with others from the industry (feed companies and producers) in order to ensure the research is applicable in today’s farming community.
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