Many bags of Strauss milk replacer contain a plastic measuring cup. Ironically, the best way to use our milk replacer is to throw the cup away.

Fresh cows have a perfect meal prepared for their newborn calves the minute they hit the ground. Their first-milking colostrum provides all the right ingredients to promote optimal gastrointestinal tract development, jump-start the calf’s metabolism, and support the immune system.

Heat stress is a unique challenge for preweaned calves. Their small size and greater body surface area make them more susceptible to fluid loss than adult animals.

When a newborn calf enters the world, much of its future lies in our caring hands. Unlike humans and many other species, bovine mothers have a limited ability to pass immunity to their offspring in-utero.

Dr. Kimberley Morrill sees a lot of corollaries between raising kids and raising calves. “Our kids are the future, and my own boys are my life,” she declared. “Similarly, calves are the future of the dairy industry. For so long, they were viewed as an annoyance or a second-tier priority on dairies. “

Coccidia infections can damage the villi or limit their growth. That animal is then less able to absorb nutrients and efficiently convert feed over its entire lifetime, whether it is headed for the milking parlor or the feedlot.

So, what makes a “good” calf milk replacer? And what factors can make it even better?

It takes hard work and considerable investment to create a newborn calf. So, when that calf hits the ground, we want to do everything we can to give it the best possible start to a healthy and productive life.

When Nick Zubke started his job in maintenance at Strauss Feeds in 2013, it was a homecoming of sorts. “I’m from Watertown and live in the  house where I grew up, which is about 2 miles from the Strauss plant,” he shared. “The plant has been a part of our ‘neighborhood’ for my entire life.”

Automated calf feeders have now been commercially available in the United States for roughly two decades. By design, autofeeders can be an excellent tool, as they allow calf-feeding patterns that most closely mimic those of a nursing calf in nature (Mother Nature’s way).

Waste milk – a “free” source of acceptable calf nutrition. Or is it?Technically, waste milk is not “free,” because there still is a cost to produce it. It is only perceived as free because there is nothing else a dairy can do with it.

We do more than sell milk replacer. We partner with our customers to deliver both high-quality products and services that add value to those products and maximize their influence on calf performance.

Starting as a laboratory technician, it was only a matter of months before Mariah’s organizational skills, attention to detail, and conscientious work habits earned her a promotion to Laboratory Supervisor. She now oversees two other employees and is responsible for the day-to-day management of the lab.

It seems there are as many potential additives to calf diets as there are corn kernels in a bushel. But which ones really work, and are truly worth the investment?

An industry stalwart who values nutrition, calves, and people – in no particular order – is the defining moniker of Dan Catherman, President of Strauss Feeds.

When it comes to raising baby calves, there are some core fundamentals that absolutely need to happen in their first week after birth to ensure a healthy, productive lifetime.

There is a common misconception that the only way to achieve group housing of preweaned calves is to invest in a high cost autofeeder system. While autofeeder barns can work very well, I have experienced first-hand that you can also raise healthy, well-grown calves in group pens using bottles.

In the mission to raise healthy, productive, well-grown dairy calves, the rumen is the central command center that determines whether calves are ready to launch successfully through weaning.

It’s the beginning of a new chapter – and the departure of an industry icon – with the retirement of Strauss Feeds Technical Director Dale Bakke. 

Overheating in the summertime doesn’t just happen to calves and their caretakers. It can be a problem for calf milk replacer, too.