Two Heads are Better Than One: UW-Madison’s Starter Guide to Pairing Dairy Calves
For a number of years now animal science research institutions have explored the benefits of raising calves in pairs or small groups over individual housing. The Animal Welfare Science department at University of Wisconsin-Madison recently published a thoroughly researched seven-article starter guide to walk raisers through the process and everything that’s been published about it. The set of articles is extremely comprehensive and covers a lot of ground: social welfare, hygiene, transfer of passive immunity benchmarks, disbudding, options for housing, best feeding practices, and more. The articles are meant to work together as a series and some are available in Spanish as well.
The research looks promising, but don’t take our word for it. Click the image below and have a look.
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Calves are creatures of habit. They crave physical comfort, companionship, and, of course, their milk ration.
One of the best things we can do as calf raisers is to deliver those elements consistently.