Developing Workable Calf Management Programs

Abstract

The rearing of dairy calves, like the rearing of children, or like global politics or religion, is a subject which has been debated for many years, usually on the basis of strong opinions and not much evidence. Dairy farmers have been subjected to alternate waves of euphoria, as some new product or program is thrown out at them, and then despair, as yet another panacea fails. Some of the confusion with regard to the value of different calf rearing systems arises because not everyone is using the same standard for evaluation. Calf morbidity, mortality and welfare, economic efficiency and farmer satisfaction are all valid, and different, endpoints to consider. The idea, of course, is to optimize all of these. At the least, we need to be aware of all of these in our evaluations.