The common dairy practice is to separate a dairy calf from its dam at birth and place it in individual housing. This helps to protect the calf from pathogens and makes it easy for the calf raiser to monitor, but it limits social contact for the animal.

According to Margit Bak Jensen of Aarhus University in Denmark, early social contact to the dam or social contact to other calves during the milk feeding period has beneficial effects on behaviour and welfare; social contact to other calves also stimulates earlier and larger intakes of solid food.

Back in 2009 when the U.S. was struggling with low milk prices, a camera crew from a local news station stopped by my family’s farm to talk to a dairy producer to see if times were really as tough as everyone said it was.

When the interview was over my dad walked the camera crew around the farm. He showed them the freestall barn and milking parlour. They went to see the baby calves and the heifer barn, and finally he took them past the dry cow barn.

Reproduction is economically important to a dairy herd. If cows don’t reproduce, they won’t become milk producers. Dr. José Santos, a professor at the University of Florida, delved into this vital factor as he reported on research that identified biological impediments to reproductive efficiency and strategies to improve reproduction during a workshop at the Vita Plus Dairy Summit Dec. 5 in Merrillville, Indiana.