Advancing your calf and heifer program
Two reasons to care about two-year-olds
Your youngest producers set the bar for milk production. Mike Messman, Ph.D., Dairy Technical Services Manager, Cargill, covers two critical reasons why you should be focusing on the two-year-olds in your herd. If you identify these areas as a challenge, here are three key practices that your farm could implement to help.
Taking calves to the next level
Brothers Ray and Roy Dykeman were tired of being average. The 2nd generation New York dairymen had grown a 120-cow dairy to over 1,300 cows, but production was around 75 pounds and components weren’t where they should be. “One time, they told me they didn’t want to be mediocre anymore,” comments Cargill Dairy Focus Ed Varnam. “So, we started improving things to be anything but that.”
Managing pregnant heifers: Monitor, monitor, monitor!
After the time and attention that has been invested in raising and breeding heifers, it can be easy to transition heifers to the pregnant pen and put them on autopilot until calving. This story covers the critical things that need to be monitored during this time period to ensure we are on target to meet dairy goals, and that those goals align to being a profitable dairy farm.
Feed only the ones you need.
Feeding too many heifers can drain profits. But, how many is too many for your dairy? When should they calve? Click on the download button below to help you find your sweet spot.