Displaying items by tag: calving

The first weeks of a calf's life quietly shape the future of the entire herd.

In calf rearing, the smallest details often have the biggest impact. While feed and genetics remain critical, bedding is increasingly recognised as a key driver of calf health, growth, and overall performance.

For decades, probiotics in calf rearing have been treated as a reactive tool – something to reach for when illness strikes. That thinking, according to Matt Collier of Probiotic Revolution, is leaving significant money on the table.

When a cow goes down after calving, it is easy to blame the calving itself. Milk fever, calving stress, poor weather, bad luck. Yet many down cows are not caused by one dramatic event. They are the end result of poorly transitioned cows entering calving under nutritional pressure.

Dry-off feels like a break. For the cow, it's anything but.

As spring calving cows head into dry-off, the priority shifts to one thing: setting cows up to calve at the target body condition score (BCS).

The dry period isn’t just a farm holiday but a chance to get your herd match-fit for calving and early lactation. If you treat it as a focused phase of preparation, recovery and capacity building, you’ll see the benefits when the cows return to milk.

The liver doesn't often get the attention it deserves.

The calving season brings with it significant nutritional demands on the herd.

Feeding infected milk is high risk for spreading diseases such as M. bovis.