How to care for calves
How to care for calves
Dairy Articles
Research has shown that many components of the way we manage calves can have long lasting effects on the dairy animal. Studies done since the late 1960s have shown the value of colostrum, blood IgG levels in young calves, calf nutrition, calf health, and various management aspects that will all impact long term health, overall growth, and even age and body weight at first calving. There have been but a very few studies that took these factors and followed dairy calves through to calving, their first lactation, and their complete lifetime production.
The aim of successful calf rearing is to produce a healthy calf which is capable of optimum performance throughout its life from birth through to finishing, reports Bernadette Earley, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc.
