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Home/Products & Services/... /Species/Dairy Cattle/Calf & Heifer/Grow with HerdFirst®/Real Dreams. Real Stories.
  • Grow with HerdFirst®
    • The Why and How for Balancing Amino Acids
    • 10 New Ways to Help Your Calves Thrive
    • Precisely Balanced Products
      • HerdFirst® Milk Replacers and Additives
      • HerdFirst® Calf Feeds
      • HerdFirst® Heifer Feeds
      • HerdFirst® Show Feeds
    • Meet the Experts
      • Expert Advice
    • Real Dreams. Real Stories.
    • Contact Us
 

Real Dreams. Real Stories.

Read about how Cargill is helping their customers thrive.

How to Assess Calf Dehydration and Rehydration

Properly assessing dehydration and providing accurate rehydration can help calves rebound faster from scours. Learn how to assess a calf’s % dehydration and calculate the necessary electrolytes to feed.

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Three opportunities for advancing your calf and heifer business

Whether it’s expanding or exploring markets, maximizing efficiencies, or concentrating on the basics, I encourage you to consider these three opportunities for advancing your calf and heifer business in the year ahead.

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A bottle of hot water goes farther than a bucket

One thing that farms with great calf growth rates have figured out is how to feed water. This is especially valuable in the winter when a calf’s time spent eating and drinking is lessened due to harsh weather conditions.

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Considering feeding whole milk?

Let’s say you’ve decided to switch from milk replacer to whole milk because you have it available. Before you pull the trigger, ask yourself these questions… 

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Better ways to invest in calves

Calves, while the future of your operation, can be a difficult area to invest in since the return is often waiting in the lactating pen. However, cows that don’t receive that initial investment can cost you in the long run.

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Daily electrolytes are an investment in the rumen

It was a little over a year and a half ago when Singing Brook Dairy decided to make concrete changes to their calf program. The 300-cow dairy found that there was too much inconsistency among calf health and performance, which ultimately down the road was affecting their lactating herd’s performance.

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Calves and water: Why offering water from day one is essential for proper health and development

Since water is essential for digestion and nutrient absorption, it should be offered free choice, beginning day one when calves are moved to hutches or other housing.

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Transitioning calves starts on day one

A common goal of any dairy farmer is to grow healthy calves that can express their full genetic potential in the parlor. But, for all calves to become high-producing cows, they must have a successful transition from a milk-based diet to a grain and forage-based diet.

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Know your options for pain management for calves

The standards for pain mitigation in calves undergoing disbudding, castration, extra teat removal, and branding have been identified in the proposed National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program 4.0.

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3 things to consider when designing the milk feeding program

To decide what milk feeding program fits your goals and capabilities, consider these three things: protein to fat ratio, feeding rate, and energy requirements.

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Where do we get our calf intel from?

The Nurture Research Center is where Cargill conducts both pre-weaning and post-weaning studies that helps us better understand calf and heifer nutrition and management.

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Winterizing calves

Winterizing ourselves and our things is a proactive solution that helps us avoid problems associated with dropping temperatures and is a tactic that can also be applied to your calves.

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Starting calves on the right hoof

When Mark Osterkamp moved from Southern California to West Texas to bring Osterkamp Dairy to life in 2003, he knew he wanted to continue his family’s legacy. Mark is a fourth-generation dairy farmer after his great grandfather began dairying in the 1920s. Today, Osterkamp Dairy is home to an efficient, productive Holstein herd all because Mark got the “bug” to follow in his family’s footsteps.

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Cost per pound of gain: A better measure for calf investment

You can measure your heifer “outputs” by tracking their growth. The closer they stay to your target growth curve, the sooner you can breed them and have them ready to calve at the right size for your herd.

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Building a better heifer

Having a strategic calf and heifer plan and implementing it means going beyond writing your goals down. Reviewing calf inventories, along with calculating cost per pound of gain and recording average daily gains for your calves and heifers is a great place to start. 

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Calf Rehydration: It takes more than you may think

Dehydration in calves experiencing scours is often underestimated. A scouring calf can lose anywhere between 5 and 10% of its body weight in water within one day. There are several ways to help determine a calf's dehydration level.

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Better nutrition meant money on animal health 

Calves just never seemed to get started right at Stony Brook Farms in Eastern New York. Respiratory disease was almost part of the SOP, and the dairy was spending a lot on vaccines and treatment. Once Gary Moore from Cargill got involved, calf health improved and the drug bill went down.

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Solving a problem no one else can see

How do you resolve a problem that no one else can see? That was the predicament for Terri Tuckerman, who has been the calf feeder at Bergen Farms in Odessa, New York for the last 26 years. Read this story to find out how Terri’s compassion for her calves led her to finding a solution for better animal health.

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Give your team the right tools to succeed

Paul Colgan’s belief and leadership in people enables him to run a church congregation of 225 people while simultaneously managing a dairy that is home to several employees, 1,375 cows and 1,260 heifers. Paul knows that in order for all to succeed, he needs to provide the right tools for success and empower others to use them.

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Why else would you get up at 4 a.m. to treat a calf?

When Dale Van Weerdhuizen sold his cows in 2003, it certainly didn’t feel like the beginning of his future in the dairy industry. The Western Washington native decided to keep and raise a few heifers, but he was pursuing a career as an electrician to be his primary income. But, the dairy industry kept pulling on his heart, and soon he found his niche as a heifer raiser for large farm south of him.

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#PutYourHerdFirst campaign donates 100,000 servings of milk!

Thanks to everyone who used the HerdFirst® Facebook frame and hashtag #putyourherdfirst to support The Great American Milk Drive. More than 65,000 people engaged with the campaign on Facebook we were extremely proud to provide all 200 food banks in the Feeding America network with 500 servings of milk! We launched this campaign to celebrate HerdFirst and live our mission of nourishing the world, and supporting the industries and communities we serve.

Taking calves to the next level

“One time, they [brothers Roy and Ray Dykeman] 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.” The first step was a new 60-cow rotary parlor, which greatly improved animal health, efficiency in the work force and boosted milk production to 90 pounds. Feeling confident from this positive experience, the Dykeman brothers said yes when their Calf and Heifer Manager asked to take the calf and heifer program to the next level.

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We’re light years happier with how ours calves look

You don't do business with someone for 30 years unless they're doing something right. And when you’re taking care of the animals every day, sometimes you need a trusted expert to come in with a fresh perspective. Learn why the team at Stanton Farm, Coeymans Hollow, NY, has continued to work with Cargill for over three decades, and how they've recently improved their calf and heifer program with the help of a calf and heifer specialist.

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Our drive is to make the dairy better for the future 

From beginning with 51 cows to being one of the first dairies to have a rotary parlor, Grotegut Dairy Farm, Inc. has been focused on making the future better for the farm since 1965. Three generations in, Ashley Grotegut dreams of continuing to push forward just as the previous generations have, to keep the farm in the family.

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Another set of eyes really makes the difference

Maple Leaf was one of the first dairies in the country to try HerdFirst™, and they have found success in encouraging calves to start grain early. “This is one of the places I see two-to-three day old calves eating grain.” Jennifer said, “It’s impressive.”

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Healthy calves keep the barn full.

When asked what gives him satisfaction about his dairy, William simply and profoundly responded, “I like seeing my cows and my farm doing really, really well.” And that’s what his team at Cargill is helping them do. 

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Raising healthy calves: A lot of it is natural instinct

“These heifers are tall, lean and growing quicker. They have that dairy look to them now.” That’s how staff at Spring Breeze Dairy describes the heifers in their youngstock program.

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It’s going to be a totally different ball game.

Since Roy Hetrick began his dairy journey in 1952, Hetrick Dale Farms has grown to a successful herd of 2,200 animals. His sons Kirk, Scott and Joel are now part of the dairy team.

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