For Kevin Souza, the importance of proper calf nutrition has been his biggest lesson in calf care in the past 18 years he’s spent as the managing partner at Victory Farms in Millbank, South Dakota.

Located in Hartville, Missouri, Turner’s Heifer Haven is a pasture-based 540-head heifer-raising facility.

About two years ago, we started using sexed semen on virgin heifers to accelerate our genetic improvements, and our heifer numbers were looking to exceed our replacement needs. We had purchased a bred Holstein heifer that freshened with a black beef cross bull calf, and we sold him at about 3 days old for 20 to 25 percent more than his Holstein counterparts.