We’ve shared considerable calving information in recent weeks. Healthy calves grow to be healthy cows. Rudimentary? Yes, but often unspoken. Calves and heifers that grow well and become productive cows is a target for every dairy farm.
Mike Van Amburgh, PhD, shared some growth targets for dairy replacements, writes Abby Bauer. These include doubling a calf’s bodyweight between birth and weaning and aiming to breed heifers when they are at 55 to 65 percent of mature body weight.
Source: Hoard’s Dairyman, February 7, 2022. Link.
We want to calve them in at a body weight that will allow them to grow but not at a great expense to first lactation milk production.” – Mike Van Amburgh, PhD
INSIGHTS: For veterinary teams and companies that service dairies, data collection and determining the average body weight in an individual herd are opportunities to help improve dairy outcomes. Notice that Van Amburgh shared most farms lack data when it comes to heifers.