Raising dairy-beef crossbred calves is a value-added production strategy that is here to stay, and dairy producers have a tremendous opportunity to influence the success of their crossbred program through early-life nutrition.

Due to improvements in reproductive efficiencies, dairies can now be more selective in raising future herd replacements. This elevates the importance of reducing preventable diseases such as scours or diarrhea in newborn calves.

Beef-on-dairy calves are an investment. These calves should be treated just as well as a heifer calf that will be raised for the dairy. A poor-quality, unhealthy calf not only hurts your bottom line, it also jeopardizes your reputation as a quality calf supplier.

With the opportunity to capitalize on record-low native beef herd numbers and the growing demand for high-quality beef, dairy-beef crossbred cattle producers can benefit from taking a second look at their early life calf nutrition program.

“I think, done the right way and with proper management all the way through, these calves are better than the native beef,” said Dan Dorn.

When I visit a farm, my favorite question to ask is, “What part of the dairy you are most proud of?” Typically, the answers include some sort of cow performance measurements, such as milk production, pregnancy rates or genomics.

At Wichman Farms, automation doesn’t stop with the cows. In fact, it travels 200 feet to link a fresh supply of whole milk to the calf barn.