Details matter

LARCHWOOD, Iowa — Dairy calf care practices and facility advantages were shared during a panel-style seminar entitled “Real Talk on Calf Care Success,” during the Form-A-Feed Professional Dairy Conference Jan. 14-15 at the Grand Falls Event Center in Larchwood.

The seminar panelists included Thompson, who manages the calf raising at their farm, Little Valley Dairy, near Plainview, Minnesota. Thompson was able to build her dream calf facility last year.

“I do not think a calf should be rushed,” Thompson said. “I want to see her happy, thriving.”

Another panelist was Graham Schindler, co-owner of North Road Dairy near Colfax, Wisconsin. The dairy utilizes indoor and outdoor single hutches for young calves.

The final panelist was Nicole Kolb, one of three calf managers at Kolb Dairy near Paynesville, Minnesota. The dairy houses calves in a retrofit calf barn that was once their 120-cow tiestall barn.

The panel was moderated by Chelsea Myer of Form-A-Feed Inc.

A newborn calf’s first 24-hour protocol was a topic of discussion for the group. Some of the protocol steps the panelists mentioned included cow identification, logging dates, feeding amount, vaccinations, navel care, tag number and recording specific events.

For Thompson, record keeping at birth includes tracking challenging calvings.

“If a calf is born backwards, it is written down, so if something happens with that calf later in life, I can go back to the chart,” Thompson said.

For Schindler, navel care is one of the newborn protocols he has specific steps for.

“When dipping the navels, we use one-time Dixie cups to cut back on bacteria transfer,” Schindler said.

Colostrum was favored over milk replacer for the first feeding by the panel. Calves on all three farms are fed one gallon of colostrum by bottle or tube within two hours of birth. The farms freeze extra colostrum for future use when available.

“We do use a Brix scale; anything 21% reading or higher is saved for heifer calves, with the lower-scoring colostrum fed to the bull calves,” Kolb said.

Thompson uses 24% as the cut-off level for first feeding colostrum.

“I always like to shoot for the stars for the first feeding,” Thompson said. “Anything under 24% from the first milking will be bagged and pasteurized for a secondary feeding.”

After the first 24 hours, when it comes to monitoring calf progress via weighing calves before weaning, this was not a top priority for the panelists. Healthy calves with a strong start to become replacement heifers for their herds is the goal.

“We watch dates to ramp up their milk intake; we do not watch their weights anymore if we know they are eating well,” Schindler said.

Kolb agreed.

“Our main goal is to keep as many calves alive and healthy as we possibly can,” Kolb said. “We know how many calves we need for replacements.”

Panelists also discussed the best management practice their farm has implemented to improve calf health.

Kolb said they installed cameras in their maternity pen to watch for calves being born. Their crew takes shifts to watch in the evenings, which is especially important in the cold months.

Schindler said they recently switched to a 24/24 custom milk replacer and increased the limit to 4 liters twice a day in their automatic feeders.

Thompson said switching their bedding from straw to shavings made a difference. They can catch the little things faster and spot manure changes more easily. This has made an impact for them for the first 10-14 days a calf is in the barn.

Each farm has a different starter feed storage strategy. Kolb said they mix feed once a week and store it in poly bins. Thompson uses bagged feed on pallets because it is simpler for her to feed on her own and move around the farm.

Schindler currently uses poly bins and totes to hold feed. When they received a quote for a new bin, they decided to think of other options due to the tight profit margins.

“We started looking into getting a shipping container, (and to) use a pulley system to open and close for our guys who like to use a wheelbarrow,” Schindler said. “We can put it at the end of the barn and move it to clean it.”

When asked about what advice they could give other dairy producers on their calf raising, Kolb said every day is different, so do not give up if you have a bad day; keep trying. Schindler said he advises people to surround themselves with people smarter than they are and to never quit trying to improve things.

For Thompson, it comes down to the details.

“The little things add up to be big things,” Thompson said. “Whether it is in your calf facility or in your cow barn, use your instincts and watch for those little things.”