Editor’s note: The following is an edited excerpt from Dr. Donald E. Sanders’ book “Raising Heifer Replacements – Doc’s Way,” published in 2012 by Vaca Resources.

A wise client recently told me that if you are going to succeed in the dairy business, you must be 100 percent better than neighboring dairy farms – that is, 5 percent better in each of 20 different management skills.

Calves represent the future of every dairy herd, and delivering proper nutrients during their first critical hours of life is vital to their survival. It’s been well-documented that there are long-term benefits of feeding high-quality colostrum and feeding to a higher plane of nutrition.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is one of the most important management issues on dairy farms and calf ranches.

It’s the most common disease in calves more than 30 days old and has long-term effects on the life of the animal.

I am often asked to visit a calf operation to discuss feeding programs, disease prevention, operation management and overall calf performance. On these visits, we usually start in the office or the milk mixing area and go over expectations of the visit or establish goals of the operation.

Veal calves comprise approximately 0.25 percent of total red meat production in the U.S., yet they account for nearly 25 percent of the positive tissue residue tests. Similarly, market dairy cows represent 7.7 percent of total beef production but account for more than 66 percent of total tissue residues.

The University of Guelph has just completed the data collection phase of a large study designed to increase understanding of clinical and subclinical pneumonia and its long-term effects in dairy calves through the use of ultrasonography.

Unfortunately, identifying cases of subclinical pneumonia and measuring its effects are impossible without tools that specifically detect consolidated, pneumonic lung – such as ultrasonography.

Immunity in a healthy and strong calf begins before birth.

Producers often focus on the pathogens that create disease in young calves, but the focus needs to shift to a holistic approach in building up immunity through colostrum, nutrition, the calving process, environment and management.