Milk Specialties Global has produced a series of highly regarded videos on calf management practices. The Calf Management Tips Series covers topics such as calf bedding, evaluating dehydration, testing colostrum and serum total protein, IV fluids and injections, disbudding practices… Continue Reading
Use of pain control methods during dehorning by veterinarians and calf raisers has been increasing, especially since dehorning was identified by the National Dairy FARM program as a medical procedure requiring pain management. Even so, adoption and use of consistent… Continue Reading
The Calf Milk Replacer Guide provides a wealth of information about milk replacer ingredients, product tags, mixing and feeding, formulation & feeding rate, cold weather strategies as well as tips for raising a healthy calf. The Guide is a solid… Continue Reading
The most popular post at Calf Sessions has now been made into a movie. Back in June, 2013 when I originally posted The Science of Mixing Milk Replacer – Mixology 101, I never expected it to generate the interest it… Continue Reading
I recently received an email about a dairy farm in Ireland where as many as 50 newborn calves developed abnormal rapid breathing after birth. The herd had blood, silage and soil samples tested. Values appeared to be normal, except iodine… Continue Reading
Acidified milk replacer has been around a long time. The addition of organic acids helps control bacterial growth, making it appropriate for feeding systems where reconstituted milk replacer is left in the feeder for many hours or even days. The… Continue Reading
Milk Specialties Global announced the acquisition of Merrick Animal Nutrition, Inc. (Merrick’s, Inc.) Milk Replacer and Hi Fat businesses. The acquisition was completed Monday, October 2, 2017, and all production of these two product lines immediately shift to Milk Specialties… Continue Reading
An interesting paper on health factors and automated feeders for calves was published in the July, 2017 Journal of Dairy Science. See the reference at the end of this post. Researchers evaluated calf health measures on 38 farms in MN, WI and… Continue Reading
The National Dairy FARM Program (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management)1 introduced several updates to it’s calf management guidelines which took effect January 1, 2017. The 2017 revision places greater emphasis on employee training and the Veterinarian-Client Patient relationship. Painful medical procedures and… Continue Reading
Organic calf milk replacer has been a rather scarce commodity in the United States. Milk Specialties Global aims at changing that relationship with the introduction of Organi-calf ™, their new USDA organic calf milk replacer. For many organic dairies, this… Continue Reading