Calves in cold weather

Calf care in cold temperatures requires different best management practices than in warm temperatures. Milk replacer temperature, water consumption and milk bottle and bucket cleaning techniques are some of the best management practices that should be considered in cold weather.

There is much evidence and economic incentive to increase calf feeding rates during the winter. Remind yourself and your calf caregivers of these four reasons to increase a calf’s nutrient intake during the colder months:

Below freezing weather provides good calf growing conditions. Heat stress is absent. Pathogen survival and growth in freezing conditions is poor. In cold weather conditions calves have a great opportunity to grow without these stresses. In this article different ways of feeding more energy in cold weather are described.

Regardless of your growth goals, if you were achieving these goals during the summer and you continue the same feeding program as the weather gets colder you will not see the same level of success. So, what to do now fall months are upon us?

Calves lie down about eighty to ninety percent of the time. A calf with inadequate bedding lying down in her pen or hutch during cold weather will lose body heat, and calves in negative energy balance (losing more energy than they consume) are good candidates for illness or even death. This article presents two ways to test the adequacy of wintertime bedding, and it also includes management tips.

Calf blankets are calf-sized coats which help conserve body heat. Situations in which calf blankets may be beneficial are discussed, as are a number of management tips