An adjusted feeding program for winter that provides adequate nutrients to sustain increased energy demands at all life stages, coupled with practical farm management strategies, will help keep calves, heifers and lactating cows productive throughout the cold season.

This article from researchers from Cornell University and Germany describes the individual, seasonal and herd-level variability of colostrum production and summarizes the association between animal individual factors – such as parity, sex of the calf, calf birthweight, as well as indicators of the cow’s metabolic status – and the yield and composition of colostrum.

Explore how fluctuations in daily milk yield can indicate disease resilience in Holstein cattle, potentially transforming breeding practices for better health and productivity. 

Young calves are the future of most dairy herds, and their future production potential is directly tied to their growth and development pre-weaning. At birth, the rumen is non-functional, leaving the calf reliant on a liquid, milk-based diet.

By definition, scours is complex: a complex clinical symptom associated with multifactorial diseases that prevent the intestine from absorbing fluids and nutrients. Don’t throw up your hands and assume there is only so much you can do.

Cases began to appear more frequently from 2021 onward, as Chilliwack, British Columbia-based veterinarian John Dick began witnessing more cattle infected with S. Dublin in his clients’ herds, noticing that clinical signs varied markedly from the clinical signs typically present in other salmonella serotypes.

Calves are not just a cost; they are the investment in the future potential of your dairy herd. As the promising carriers of our best genetics, they represent the assurance of future profitability.