Navel Issues Unraveled
The most challenging thing about navels is there is a lot of management involved, so it can be difficult to put a plan together that works for both your employees and your calves.
Cooling Colostrum as the Weather Heats Up
Many dairies will cool their colostrum outdoors in the winter. It makes perfect sense, you don’t have to warm up the freezer, you don’t have to take up space, the bags can dry out from being in the pasteurizer.
Getting Calves Through Times of Variable Weather
Managing calves in stable weather is one thing, but trying to keep them from getting sick when it’s 50F during the day and 20F at night is another.
The In’s and Out’s of Bacteria in Group Housed Calves
Here’s how we lower disease pressure in our high stocking density group pens, and only spend 2-5 minutes per month, 3 gallons of water, and $0.21 to do so.
New Calf, How Can We Do Better?
A new born calf just landed in the straw. You are responsible for the success of the rest of its life. What now?
Assuming you are fortunate enough to be able to control the first things that happen to the calf when it comes into the world, here are the top things to consider.
Cleaning in Cold Weather
Cleaning calf equipment and housing in the cold weather is never a fun task. Speed up that process and improve sanitation by adding DK-ll to your protocol. Take a 5 step process down to two simple steps.
Winter Blues
Some people argue that outdoor raised calves do better, that’s a matter of opinion. While calves raised in hutches take minimal ventilation management and have little risk of cross-contamination or disease spreading from calf to calf, they also come with their own set of challenges.
Cold Weather Calf Tips
There are many things that you can do for your calves during colder weather that will benefit them greatly. Here are some that you’ve probably heard along with some more suggestions.
Why We Need to Stop Focusing on “Square Foot Per Calf”
Square foot per calf has become one of the most coined terms when talking about calf housing options. It is a “standard” that has been drilled into dairy farmers and calf raisers heads by every article, seminar, and talk on calf housing that’s out there.
Increase Sanitation without Spending More Time Cleaning
Increasing efficiency, sanitation, and calf performance is something that we are always looking to do! Many times, when you look to improve sanitation, you end up spending more time, more money on chemicals, and more water to do so.
Raising Calves: How to Keep Going When Things Get Tough
Because no matter what you do, what you know, or how long you have been raising calves, sometimes you just need someone to help you bring it back to center and try again. I am going to go through my process on how I get through tough times when raising calves.
Where Have Your Hands Been?
Some people believe in gloves, some people don’t. Either way, it is important that your hands are clean. Whether you are milking, feeding calves, or doing any type of vet work, clean hands are a must.
Hidden Bacteria in Your Auto Feeder
Auto feeders are great, they can help relieve many common issues with calf raising. Some issues an auto feeder may resolve could be insufficient employees, wanting to feed more volume or increase feeding frequency but not having the equipment or time, and many other challenges that come with calf raising.
Navel Management
Navel management and protection is one of the most important things you can do for your calves and your wallet. A close second behind colostrum management and a clean maternity pen should be dipping navels.
Dairy Keep 2 (DK-ll) & Navel Guard
Using a combination of the proprietary solution (Ike-Joe) and hydrogen peroxide, SCGS has created a non-toxic, non-hazardous formula that provides many uses for the animal care industry.
The Importance of Water
Even though it might seem obvious to give calves water when it is hot out, it is less obvious to water calves when it is cold. Cold weather is also typically dry weather, which can dehydrate as well!
Bucket Training Tips and Tricks
Buckets buckets buckets. Some farmers would rather quit their job than try to bucket train a newborn calf. It can be the worst part of your day if you don’t approach it the right way.
Colostrum Management and Monitoring IgG Levels
Today, I am going to go through how to check the blood for pass/fail, and what to do if you are getting multiple failures of passive transfers.
Drawing Blood for Total Proteins
I wanted to show how I pull blood to check total proteins. Instead of trying to explain it via text, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a video to help explain and show visually how we do it!
Bucket, Bottle, Autofeeder?
There are many ways to successfully feed calves. Many people are very set in the way they choose to deliver milk to their calves. What I want to do in this article is outline the pros and cons of each way, to hopefully give you a more open look at your feeding methods.