Dairy producers are working to raise both the optimal number and the highest-quality heifers for their operations. Developing replacement heifers is a significant and necessary expenditure for dairies, requiring an investment of $1,800 to $2,200 per head to get them to the start of first lactation.

Editor’s note: This is the second of two articles about managing the maternity area and newborn calves using a team approach. Click here to read the first article "Putting more 'Ma' in your maternity: The cow's perspective".

Editor’s note: This is the first of two articles about managing the maternity area and newborn calves using a team approach. Click here to read the second article "Praiseworthy newborn calf specialists check these boxes". Maternity is a classically overlooked and poorly understood area of the farm.

Due to greater reproductive efficiency, gendered semen and improvements in heifer rearing, heifers make up a larger proportion of our milking herds today. As a result, the milking herd could see better performance if its heifers are well grown and “ready to get to work” when they freshen.

Puberty in dairy heifers can be defined as a measurable increase in blood progesterone with the presence of a corpus luteum (CL) on an ovary, and heifers begin actively cycling. Dairy heifers reach puberty at a defined stage of maturity (45 to 50 percent of mature size) rather than a certain age.

Have you ever found yourself reading a milk replacer tag and trying to understand what additives are included, what those additives do and whether or not they are right for your calf program?

The goal of any nursery calf program should be to strike a balance between maximizing health and growth during the first half of the nursery phase and building a fully functional rumen during the second half.

Feeding water to nursery calves can often cause frustration for producers. Water intake by nursery calves is dynamic and has a degree of variability, making it a little difficult to judge how much water they will drink.

When walking through calf barns and hutches during the winter, it is somewhat difficult to differentiate sickness behavior from cold-stress behavior. Interestingly, calf behaviors are quite similar when they are struggling with a disease challenge and when they are battling cold weather. In young calves, both stressors decrease activity and reduce thriftiness of appearance.