During any given production year on the ranch, cows/heifers are faced with nutritional and environmental stressors. They have ...

As the cattle head to the cool-season grass pastures, spring breeding plans are well under way. While most of the cows have calved, spring grass means breeding time is not far away. The other day was ...

The top ten New Year’s resolutions, first published in January 2022, serve as a good reminder of the management practices ...

Just like the youth of today foreshadow what the world will look like in the next generation, heifer selection and first calf heifer management determine the future of cowherds. Overseeing this stage ...

ST. PAUL -- First-calf heifers represent the present and the future of dairy farms, but they need to adapt to many physiological and behavioral changes at calving. According to the USDA, first-calf ...

Spring calving time has arrived, and workload has sharply intensified for Flint Hills ranchers with cow-calf operations. A cow’s gestation is the period between conception and birth. During this time, ...

BROOKINGS, S.D. - For the long-term health of the cow herd, it's important to give some extra attention to first-calf heifer pairs during calving so they remain healthy and are ready to breed back in ...

Many heifer intramammary infections begin months before calving, long before milking hygiene becomes relevant. Targeting ...

Larger cows must wean heavier calves to justify higher maintenance costs. Track individual productivity for better decisions.

It is uncanny how certain cattle producers have an accurate internal alarm system that awakes them at the exact hour during the middle of night when they need to assist a heifer or cow with difficult ...

Sometimes a first-calf heifer is confused or indifferent toward her newborn calf. She may just lie there after the calf is born and doesn’t get up to lick the calf, and when she does get up she may ...

My most memorable tussle with calves occurred half a century ago while working on a farm. While moving calves into the barn, one was recalcitrant. My boss said, “Just wrap its tail around your hand ...