Transitions – whether it’s a cow, calf or person, we all go through them. Sometimes they’re exciting, like the birth of a new baby, or challenging, like saying goodbye to friends. My husband and I are currently facing both of these transitions. My husband is in the military, so moving and having friends move is typical, but this time it's hitting a little harder than usual as my husband and I decided to stay at our current location for an extended period while many of our friends chose to move according to the standard move cycle. Couple this with welcoming our second child in the next month, and we have a busy transition period ahead of us.
Now, this transition is not unexpected. Obviously, it’s something we’ve known about for several months, which is why we’ve taken steps to prepare for it – like seeking out new friends, joining new activities, making sure we have the supplies necessary for another kid and, most importantly, prepping our 2-year-old to be a big sister.
While my husband and I might feel like we’re going through the biggest transition right now, the reality is: My daughter is facing the biggest transition. For the first time in her life, she’s going to need to learn how to share her toys, her space, her parents and work around someone else’s needs. And no matter how much we tell her about it, she will not fully understand what is happenings until the baby is here. At that point, preparation time is over and it's time for her to employ the skills she’s hopefully picked up over the past several months. Cows and calves are fairly similar to my daughter in this sense. They have no idea what is coming next, and it’s up to their caregivers to set them up for the next step.
Preparing these animals can look different, however, depending on the immediate and long-term goals of the operation. Farms focused on improving calf health might prepare their calves through the use of IgY antibodies as described in Roger L. Saltman and Shawn Jones’ article, “Calf gut health and IgY antibodies.” Some farms might be tackling a different type of transition as their heifers are raised off-site. Sarah Stocks discusses this in her article “Preparing heifers to travel” where she emphasizes the importance of providing electrolytes, good nutrition and supplements to set the animals up for success while they learn to navigate their new environment.
Still other farms might be tackling a completely different transition not just for their animals, but their entire team by installing a new system like activity monitoring. While this transition might be considered good by many and a welcome tool, transitioning to it without proper preparation could lead to additional challenges for both animals and employees. To help avoid this, Sarah Anderson covers “Six steps to successfully onboard your activity monitoring system.”
In reality, farms can put protocols in place and discuss how to transition animals all they want, but protocols alone don’t prepare animals. The people who carry them out do, which makes finding and putting the right employees in place essential to the animals’ success. Michelle Philibeck discusses this in her article “Choosing the best employees to work with calves: It’s not for everyone.” After all, farm work is challenging and not everyone is up to it. In addition, a major component of being a good employee is a person’s ability to connect with the animals and provide them with exceptional care. Jonathan Townsend provides some insight on accomplishing this in his article “Does your dairy have a culture of care?”
While transitions can be nerve-wracking and overwhelming at times, they’re also a time for growth and can hold many sweet moments. Some might be somewhat expected, like finally meeting a goal that’s eluded your team or watching your daughter practice caring for her baby dolls and mimic the ways you and your husband care for her. Others might be less expected, like having her suddenly hug your growing belly while you’re busy washing dishes, tell you she’s excited about her baby brother and then run off to continue playing.
