As summer temperatures creep up over 90°F (32°C), heat stress can negatively impact calf health and performance. Heat stress causes increased respiration and body temperature, rapid dehydration and reduced immune system function. In addition, the calf’s maintenance energy requirement is elevated – similar to the effects of cold stress. According to Dr. Dave Cook, technical service manager at Milk Products, LLC, “In cold weather, calves burn more energy to keep themselves warm, while in hot weather they burn more energy keeping themselves cool. Both calf growth and health can be negatively affected if heat stress is not managed.”

Although the methods used to feed cows and raise calves have moved into the 21st century, Dr. Jud Heinrichs, professor of dairy science at Penn State, said many farms are raising heifers like it is still the 1970s. Heinrichs presented “Precision Feeding Dairy Heifers” at the Four State Dairy Nutrition and Management Conference held June 12 and 13 in Dubuque, Iowa.

Developing and validating a standardized scoring system for bovine respiratory disease tops the priority list for a team of veterinarians and scientists at the University of California – Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Animal Science. The research team, with the assistance of dairy managers and staff, are knee-deep in a project that targets prevention, diagnosis and treatment of bovine respiratory disease in dairy calves.

Editor’s note: The following is an edited excerpt from Dr. Donald E. Sanders’ book “Raising Heifer Replacements – Doc’s Way,” published in 2012 by Vaca Resources. A wise client recently told me that if you are going to succeed in the dairy business, you must be 100 percent better than neighboring dairy farms – that is, 5 percent better in each of 20 different management skills.

Calves represent the future of every dairy herd, and delivering proper nutrients during their first critical hours of life is vital to their survival. It’s been well-documented that there are long-term benefits of feeding high-quality colostrum and feeding to a higher plane of nutrition.

I am often asked to visit a calf operation to discuss feeding programs, disease prevention, operation management and overall calf performance. On these visits, we usually start in the office or the milk mixing area and go over expectations of the visit or establish goals of the operation.

Veal calves comprise approximately 0.25 percent of total red meat production in the U.S., yet they account for nearly 25 percent of the positive tissue residue tests. Similarly, market dairy cows represent 7.7 percent of total beef production but account for more than 66 percent of total tissue residues.