Editor’s note: The following blog is reprinted with permission from dairy blogger Krista Stauffer. Follow more of her dairy marriage advice at her blog.

Cassie Musser is at least the ninth generation working on her family’s farm in Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, which was first established through a Revolutionary War grant. Today, Den Be Farm is home to a milking herd of about 160 Holsteins, Guernseys and Jerseys.

In 2006, Amy Shiplett came back to her parents’ farm in Chilton, Wisconsin, with the intent of feeding calves and assisting with field work, but her role evolved quickly when her father was diagnosed with cancer in 2007.

It could be argued that newborn calf care protocols are more important than anything else you do on the farm. The future of your herd stands on four wobbly little legs and looks to you to help get it off to the right start.

Automated calf feeders are a popular choice for farms looking to increase labor efficiency, improve social interaction of calves, help calves make a smoother transition to weaning and to maximize growth potential and future performance.

My mom always told me I should never say I “hate” something. So trying to be a good son, I will not say that I “hate” feeding calves, but I will tell you I very much loathe feeding baby calves. Only someone who has raised a calf from birth to weaning can understand my strong dislike.

Selecting the right milk replacer for your calves is a big decision. It’s a product with a lifetime impact; not only can a quality milk replacer address initial health problems and boost calf performance, it can also turn calves into productive cows later in life. With so much at stake, producers must fully analyze their options before making a purchase.

Fat is an energy-dense nutrient that is high in calf milk replacers. In North America, most of the fat in a milk replacer is from lard or tallow. Little comes from the milk ingredients as milkfat garners a higher price in the human food market than a calf feed market. The typical milk replacer fed in North America is 20 to 22 percent crude protein (CP) and 20 percent fat.

Digestive and metabolic upsets are just some of the challenges in pre-weaned calf rearing. Rumen drinking is a condition that occurs when milk is ingested into the rumen in large quantities.

In a culture where consumers are taking an increased interest in how their food is raised, the topic of animal welfare has become increasingly popular. To help producers develop protocols for their operations that follow the current animal welfare standard, Merck Animal Health has developed a series of training modules which are available on their Dairy CARE 365 website.