Raising quality dairy replacement heifers is not an inexpensive or simplistic endeavor. If your goal is to rear heifers that reach desired breeding parameters early so that animals begin puberty, establish a pregnancy and calve easily and on time, you must be aggressive in your heifer management program. Plus, you must accomplish these objectives at a reasonable cost. Feed cost is generally the largest expense for raising replacement heifers, and margins require that dairies be prudent when managing heifer growth and performance. However, while daily rearing cost is important, it is really only part of the picture.

Dairy farmers have had no shortage of feeding challenges throughout the past couple of years. High input costs, overall feed quality and feed availability issues have hampered profitability and productivity at times. Experts predict more of the same for 2012, with even more uncertainty regarding protein, energy and fiber prices. Continuing drought in the Southwest also complicates the feed quality picture, while it increases competition among dairy and beef producers for available feed.

The investment made in young heifers today lays the groundwork for future herd performance and profitability. Heifers are a group of animals that may be overlooked at a time of tight margins. However, when their needs go unmet, growth, health and, ultimately, lifetime production can all be negatively impacted. The long-term consequences of cutting expenses in the heifer pen are a huge price to pay for small reductions in rearing costs. There are producers doing it right – investing in their heifer pens for earlier breeding and calving, leading to greater milk production. Raising heifers to their potential is something Aardema Dairy of Wendell, Idaho, has valued in an effort to achieve optimal herd performance, starting with their young calves.