It is estimated that more than 6% of calves die before they reach six months of age, most of these losses occur in the first month of the calves’ life and many are a re...

Traditional calf feeding practice limits milk fed to encourage early intakes of concentrates and promote earlier weaning, to cut feed costs and labour. Recent research ho...

Clostridial bacteria are always in the environment but once triggered by a stress factor to release toxins, they can lead to disease which often proves fatal. Clostridial...

Coccidiosis infection in young cattle reduces daily liveweight gain, increases the cost of cattle rearing and in severe cases can be fatal. If coccidiosis is present on a...

Heifer calves are the future of your dairy herd, you don’t get a second chance at getting it right. Therefore, time taken for attention to detail pays dividends not onl...

Computerised calf feeders are becoming increasingly popular to help labour efficiencies. Managed well, they can improve milk feeding consistency, drive weight gains and o...

In a traditional dairy calf rearing system, calves are fed 10% of their birthweight in milk over two feeds daily i.e. 2 feeds of 2 litres. In comparison, a calf left on t...

Heat stress in dairy cows can occur at temperatures of 22oC and above. A cow's digestive process creates a lot of heat energy (1.4 kW/day of heat for a cow producing 30 l...

Consistent growth throughout their early years is essential to ensure heifers calve in at the most economical age at first calving of 24 months, but all too often turnout...

IBR is an acute viral disease characterised by inflammation and necrosis of the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract which can lead to fatal pneumonia. With th...