Babies, babies, babies!

So a major point of my job is to take care of the calves that are born. It is an interesting topic when it comes to calves and how to properly handle them and nearly all dairy farms will have a special barn or area dedicated as the calf nursery. This barn is where I spend a lot of time and I really love every moment of it. We currently have a lot of extra space as calf birthing's have been slow but I am very excited for when they pick up later this summer! A heifer calf is a girl, while a bull is a boy. There is a lot of terminology and jargon used at farms and some other examples include fresh cow; a cow that has recently given birth; and dry cow which I have explained previously. 

What do I do when we have newborn calves? I make sure that they get the best quality colostrum to give them an optimal start to life. Colostrum is jam-packed with antibodies that these calves need because when they are first born as they have a very poor, underdeveloped immune system. The colostrum antibodies can be directly absorbed in the intestines of these animals within the first twenty-four hours of birth so it is vital that we feed them as soon as possible. After they eat their colostrum, I will also give a shot of vitamin B and multimin, I'll dip their naval in a naval guard to protect against infection, give them a toothpaste tube of additional proteins, and I will tag them. I like to think of the tags as fancy earrings that the cows get to show off! In total, a newborn heifer calf will get two tags; one colorful tag with her identification number and birthday, and one tag that looks like a white button. The white button is a fancy tool that our computer system can read and recognize and help keep track of a multitude of information about the health of our cow as she grows up. Below is a photograph of one of our recently trained calves that I included on the bucket training post showing off her bright, shiny yellow tag. She just ate her dinner and has a few drops of milk still hanging on the bottom of her chin!

Today we shipped 5,453 gallons of milk and had no new babies.