Typically found in manufacturing businesses, Lean principles became popular in the 1990s when Toyota streamlined automobile production processes.

Every day, we make hundreds of decisions. Some are big, while some appear minor and without a significant future impact. Colostrum handling is one of those processes that falsely appears to only have short-term consequences.

As I travel from farm to farm, I often notice that a dairy farm manager or owner’s description of their colostrum and newborn protocols is different than what I hear when I enter the maternity barn.

Editor’s note: This article is part three in a three-part series on evaluating your hygiene protocols. Visit Are you saving money with hygiene? to read part 1 and 5 steps to perfect cleanliness to read part 2.

Editor’s note: This article is part two in a three-part series on evaluating your hygiene protocols. Visit Are you saving money with hygiene? to read part one and Are your calves secure? 7 ways to make it so to read part three.  It has been said, cleanliness is next to godliness. Nowhere on a dairy is this saying more true than in the maternity and calf areas. Providing a clean environment for our newborn calves can save us thousands of dollars in future treatments and medical expenses.

Editor’s note: This article is part one in a three-part series on evaluating your hygiene protocols. Visit 5 steps to perfect cleanliness to read part two and Are your calves secure? 7 ways to make it so to read part three. In this time of lower milk prices, every penny counts, and many producers have “hunkered down” and decided not to make any large investments this year.

While the refractometer only started gaining popularity in the dairy industry in recent years, the technology itself dates back to 1869. It has been used since in chemistry and food sciences to analyze solutions and purity of substances. On today’s dairies, we use refractometers in three main ways:

Imagine an employee wearing gloves in a clean, dry pen skillfully administering high-quality colostrum to a calf born just minutes ago. The calf’s navel has already been dipped, the calf dried, and all information recorded in the logs.