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Best Practices on the Farm: Choosing a Refractometer

There are many tools of the trade when it comes to taking care of calves. One of those tools that often gets overlooked is the refractometer. This is an essential tool in your toolbox, it gets used every day. There are several different refractometers on the market and they are used in a variety of […]

Is the Collection and Storage of Colostrum Your Missing Link?

We have talked a lot about the importance of feeding colostrum and the importance of pasteurization, but we haven’t really discussed the importance of how that colostrum is collected and how it is stored. By now, we all know that those first few hours of a calf’s life are the most critical. Being born without […]

More Farm Choices: Is the Second Feeding of Colostrum Needed?

By now, we all know how important colostrum is to the neonatal calf. But, now we face the question, how many feedings are enough? Is it just a one-and-done kind of thing or is there more to it? This is a relatively new topic of research and much still needs to be learned. Before we […]

What’s the Composition? Milk And Colostrum And How To Treat Each

“That depends,” you say. “Are you talking about comparing the two liquids or whether colostrum feeding affects future production?” “Both,” I say. Comparing Colostrum to Milk Components Colostrum is notorious for containing high levels of immunoglobulins. At 85 to 90 percent, the most prevalent one is immunoglobulin G (IgG), a large Y-shaped protein produced by […]

Addressing the forgotten: Hygiene!

Last week, the Calf Care Connection put on by PDPW went off without a hitch, full of calf persons from all over Wisconsin. We were very honored to sponsor Dr.Sam Leadly, who spoke in depth about the on farm cleanliness for our calf care materials. I personally believe that hygiene is a much overlooked topic on […]