There has been an increased incentive to feed the preweaned calf more milk to improve growth, feed efficiency and in many cases, health as compared to our traditional practice of limit feeding milk to stimulate rumen development and early weaning.

What’s normal for beef cattle? The pastoral scene is common in many beef cattle systems in the eastern U.S. Calving occurs outdoors, where the air is fresh and the environment is clean. What is the message for dairy, and can we do better? What are the focus areas we should consider?

Seeing beef cow-calf pairs on pasture caused me to consider how we have raised dairy calves. Granted, most of our commercial dairy management systems don’t allow this kind of environment for the cow and her newborn calf, but what can be done to make our systems better?

For many years, the calf hutch has been considered the “gold” standard. Is it time to reevaluate this standard? Let’s consider the benefits and challenges of the calf hutch system compared to other alternatives.

Until recently, raising all heifer calves to breeding age or calving and selling them was not profitable. Using the concept of genomics, lower-ranking females in the herd have been bred to beef sires, resulting in a new profit center for many farms. Finally, we are learning to appreciate that the better we raise our heifer calves, the healthier they are, and they produce more milk during their first and later lactations.