P3274

Dairy Calf Management: From Birth to Weaning

Raising calves on any dairy farm is a challenging job. However, starting calves off well is essential to minimizing death loss and improving health outcomes. Even when a calf survives a disease, negative economic impacts may occur, and the calf may never reach her full genetic potential.

Calves treated with antibiotics have been shown to produce less milk in their first lactation than calves that receive no treatment. This, along with increased public concern over antibiotic use, should encourage producers to look more to disease prevention than treatment of heifer calves. This publication is intended to summarize best management practices for dairy producers to successfully develop productive replacement animals.

A calf walks into a small, metal pen with hay on the floor and buckets of feed and water. — Providing a clean, deep bedded, and dry environment as soon after birth as possible will help decrease disease occurrence in newborn calves.

Download the PDF for the full publication.

Publication 3274 (POD-04-26)

Reviewed by Kandy Tilley, Graduate Research Assistant, and Jessica Halfen, PhD, Assistant Extension/Research Professor, Animal and Dairy Sciences. Written by Mauricio X. S. Oliveira, former Graduate Student, and Amanda E. Stone, PhD, former Assistant Extension Professor, Animal and Dairy Sciences.

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P3274