Bovis Animal Care

08/09/2026

Points to check heifer ready for breeding

1. CHECK BODY WEIGHT
Heifer should be approximately 55% of mature herd weight.
Use your mature cow weight to set a farm-specific target.

2. CHECK GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT
Consistent growth to target with appropriate skeletal and reproductive development.
Monitor weights regularly (every 3 months).

3. CHECK HEALTH & REPRODUCTIVE READINESS
Heifer is healthy, cycling, and free from conditions that could impair future performance.
Evaluate sound structure, body condition, and vaccination status up to date.

4. CONSIDER FEED RESOURCES & ECONOMICS
Can you grow heifers to target size economically with the resources available?
Weigh the cost of additional feed vs. the cost of delayed breeding.

5. BREED BY READINESS, NOT BY THE CALENDAR.
Introduce well-developed heifers into the milking herd at the right time.

THE RIGHT TIME DEPENDS ON:
• Individual heifer
• Mature herd size
• Growth rate
• Health
• Reproductive development
• Feed resources available
• Economics of the operation

29/08/2026

One of the most practical ways to evaluate breeding readiness is to compare a heifer's body weight with the mature weight of cows in the same herd. A commonly used benchmark is approximately 55% of mature body weight at breeding.

26/08/2026

A replacement heifer consumes feed, labor, housing, and health resources for nearly two years before she begins generating milk income. Every additional month before first calving therefore has a cost. This does not mean that heifers should simply be bred as young as possible. The objective is to develop a healthy heifer efficiently and introduce her into the milking herd at the right time.

24/08/2026

A milk bucket tells you how much milk a cow produced today. It gives you a number to compare, track, and celebrate.

But it doesn't tell you everything that led to that number. By the time milk production falls, the real problem may have started weeks or months earlier — with poor calf growth, inadequate body condition, delayed breeding, nutritional imbalance, or a poorly managed transition period.

That is why the most efficient dairy farming operations don't wait for problems to become visible.

Dairy farms deal with problems every day. Some are unavoidable. Many, however, are influenced by decisions made much earlier.

A calf that doesn't grow as expected may eventually become a heifer that takes longer to reach breeding readiness.

A heifer that isn't managed for the right body condition may enter her first calving at a disadvantage.

A cow that enters the transition period over-conditioned, under-conditioned, or nutritionally unprepared may struggle when the demands of lactation rise sharply.

By the time the farmer sees lower milk yield, a large part of the damage has already happened.

The cost isn't just the treatment.

It can include feed consumed during an extended non-productive period, additional veterinary intervention, delayed breeding, reduced production, and lost reproductive efficiency.

One of the most important shifts in modern dairy farm management is to stop treating every problem as an isolated event.

The animal's life is a connected system.

• Calfhood influences growth.
• Growth influences breeding readiness.
• Breeding influences age at first calving.
• Transition influences early-lactation performance.
• Early lactation influences the economics of the entire lactation.

A weakness at one stage can create consequences at the next.

That is why stage-specific animal nutrition and management matter.

Prevention doesn't necessarily mean complicated technology or expensive systems. Often, it begins with better observation.

Farmers can monitor simple indicators such as:

• Growth and body development in young stock
• Body condition score
• Feed intake and appetite
• Rumen activity and cud chewing
• Manure consistency
• Breeding timelines
• Changes in milk production
• Behaviour and activity around calving

These indicators often change before a major production loss becomes obvious.

The earlier a deviation is noticed, the more options the farmer has to act.

That is where control comes from.

Nutrition Is a Management Tool, Not Just an Input

Feed is often discussed as a cost.

But the more useful question is:

What is the feed helping the animal achieve?

At different stages, the answer is different.

For a calf, the priority may be rumen development and healthy growth.

For a grower, it may be building the right frame and lean body development.

For a heifer, it may be reaching breeding readiness without excessive or inadequate growth.

For a transition cow, it may be maintaining intake, supporting metabolic adaptation, and preparing for the demands of lactation.

During early lactation, the goal becomes supporting appetite, nutrient supply, and productive performance.

This is why a good dairy nutrition strategy is not simply about feeding more. It is about feeding according to need.

Better Dairy Management Is About Reducing Uncertainty

No dairy farm can eliminate every risk.

Weather changes. Animals respond differently. Disease happens. Market conditions move.

The objective, therefore, isn't perfect control.

It is better control over the factors that can be managed.

That means consistent cattle feed.

It means timely observation.

It means stage-appropriate management.

It means acting on early warning signs.

And it means building systems that make the right decision easier to repeat.

Over time, these practices can reduce avoidable losses and create a more predictable production environment.

Preventive management can sometimes feel like an expense because the benefit is invisible.

If a calf grows properly, there is no dramatic event to celebrate.

If a heifer reaches breeding readiness on time, there is no emergency to solve.

If a cow transitions smoothly into lactation, there may be no veterinary bill demanding attention.

But that is precisely the point.

Every avoided treatment, every day of unnecessary delay prevented, every breeding opportunity protected, and every litre of milk not lost contributes to farm economics. The most profitable intervention may be the one that never looks like an intervention at all.

better dairy performance begins with better nutritional decisions — made at the right time, for the right stage, with the animal's long-term potential in mind.

Nutrition goes beyond simply filling the feed requirement. It is about supporting healthier animals, more consistent performance, and a more productive dairy lifecycle through balanced nutrition.

Because nutrition should not just respond to problems.

It should help prevent them.

Less correction. More control.

Less firefighting. More planning.

Better nutrition. Better dairy performance.

18/08/2026

Simple changes to water access after milking could help dairies better manage heat stress while supporting milk production and fertility.

A cow will consume 10% of her daily water requirement immediately after milking.

Researches show, cows may consume 30% to 50% of their daily water intake within the first hour after milking,

“Most dairies are set up so that fresh feed is there waiting. So those cows are going to bypass the water and go straight to that fresh feed. Now you have missed the opportunity to get water into that cow. She will drink later, but she will never be able to make up that 10% that she should have drunk right after milking,”

Water demand also increases rapidly as milk production rises. According to researchers, every additional 10 pounds of milk produced requires approximately one additional gallon of water.

Helping cows stay hydrated becomes even more critical during periods of heat stress.

13/08/2026

Mastitis and antibiotic resistance
With antimicrobial-resistant infections increasing worldwide, it is important for all of us to do our part in antimicrobial stewardship, including those of us in the dairy industry. While qualitative research on farmers’ perceptions of antimicrobial resistance indicates that some dairy farmers have felt unfairly blamed for antimicrobial resistance, the truth is that it is a global problem that requires all sectors, including beef, poultry, swine, companion animal medicine, dairy and the human health sector, to participate.
Because a large portion of the antimicrobials we use on dairy farms are for the prevention and treatment of mastitis, this represents an area where improved antimicrobial stewardship can be implemented. One approach for implementing improved antimicrobial stewardship on dairy farms would be through adoption of a selective clinical mastitis protocol.

This refers to a protocol in which we aim to treat non-severe clinical mastitis cases that would benefit from treatment with an antimicrobial and refrain from treatment of cases that would be less likely to respond to treatment. Such an approach, if suitable at the individual farm level, would allow for a substantial improvement in antimicrobial use on dairy farms.

With that in mind, researchers have sought to understand what motivates and prevents farmers from adopting selective clinical mastitis protocols. When evaluating the perceived barriers to the adoption of selective antimicrobial treatment for non-severe clinical mastitis

a major barrier to adoption of selective clinical mastitis treatment is bacteriological diagnostics. Specifically, farmers in the study expressed frustration about not being able to receive diagnostic results in time to be useful.

At the core of a selective clinical mastitis treatment protocol is the ability to access diagnostic testing and receive results in a timely manner. At this time, we know that if treatment is delayed 24 hours while waiting for the results of the diagnostic test, we do not expect a difference in outcome of the case. By outcome of the case, we are referring to bacteriological cure, clinical cure, somatic cell count following the clinical mastitis case, milk yield, likelihood of recurrence and likelihood of culling. While this is true, 24 hours is a fast turnaround time, and depending on the context and diagnostic accessibility, that may be challenging. For this reason, there is ongoing research to improve availability of on-farm rapid diagnostic tests. With the assistance of your herd veterinarian, there is also the option of setting up on-farm bacteriological culturing, which can help reduce the time to results.

Milk culturing adoption is an important aspect of a selective clinical mastitis protocol. One of the barriers described by the dairy farmers and on-farm personnel included frustration with contamination of milk samples. To ensure samples are collected in a way that we can trust the results, on-farm employees need to be provided with proper training on the steps involved. Extension specialists can play a key role here in providing additional guidance on the steps to be followed to avoid contamination of the samples and ensure the results will be accurate and therefore useful.

Other farmers in the sample expressed frustration with receiving milk culture results that indicated “no growth” of bacteria. Although potentially frustrating to the farmer when there is a cow presenting with clinical signs of mastitis, “no growth” is actually a very meaningful result. It tells us that bacterial thresholds were not met, and there likely was not any bacteria present in the udder when the sample was taken. This is likely because the cow has already cleared the infection. It may also indicate that the cause of the infection is not due to bacteria at all. In these cases in which bacterial culturing produces a result of “no growth,” antibiotics are not needed and would not be helpful.

05/08/2026

02/08/2026

What is the average urine PH of close up cows at your farm? And in which range it should be ?

27/07/2026

How to prevent crypto infections

Sanitizing pens between groups of calves can help reduce pathogen loads but the type of disinfectant used is notable. Research has shown that Crypto is resistant to chlorine and iodine-based disinfectants (Harp and Goff, 1998). Crypto can also survive in extreme cold and warm temperatures. Boiling water at temperatures of 160°F for three full minutes is required to destroy the oocysts (Fayer et al., 1996).

Crypto requires water to survive, which is why it thrives in humid environments like calf barns, but this can also be used against the organism. The easiest way to manage Crypto is to reduce parasite load by frequently removing soiled bedding from infected calf pens, and by cleaning bottles and buckets with very hot water followed by drying. The key here is to follow the hot water wash with drying because Crypto is vulnerable to desiccation, or dying out when moisture is removed from the environment (Harp and Goff, 1998). In addition to removal of soiled bedding, the isolation of sick calves away from healthy calves is also an important step in controlling Crypto. One tablespoon of diarrhea from a calf with Cryptosporidium parvum is enough to infect dozens of other calves if they consume it (Nydam et al., 2001). Having a dedicated, easy-to-clean area to house sick calves can help reduce the risk of disease transmission to other calves in the barn, regardless of the cause of diarrhea.

The best solution for calves with an active Crypto infection, much like any cause of diarrhea, is supportive care.

An effective supportive care plan for diarrheic calves involves providing rehydration solutions to them either by bottle, subcutaneously, or intravenously

Anyone treating or working with sick calves should always wear gloves, wash hands after calf handling, even if wearing gloves, change and wash clothes soiled by calf diarrhea, and wash hands before eating.

The dehydration status of a calf can be assessed by the following: pulling the skin on the shoulders to assess for elasticity, or skin tent, looking for recession of the eyes into the skull, feeling the calf’s extremities for warmth, checking the calf's mucous membranes for dryness, and evaluating the calves for their ability to suckle and response to human presence, or attitude. A diarrheic calf that may not require oral rehydration solutions has tight skin elasticity that bounces back within a second, the eyes are flush with the skull, the ears are warm, the mucous membranes or nose and mouth are wet, the calf has a strong suckle, and the calf is responsive when approached

A diarrheic calf with mild dehydration has a skin tent of one to two seconds, has at least 1 mm of eye recession, may have dry mucous membranes, and usually has a strong suckle; mild dehydrated calves need additional fluids, often provided by oral electrolyte solutions.

Moderately dehydrated calves have a lingering skin tent of three to five seconds, at least 2 mm eye recession into the skull, and dry mucous membranes . Moderately dehydrated calves often present a weakened suckle and appear slightly depressed. A moderately dehydrated calf needs fluid therapy, but oral solutions may not be sufficient. These calves often need subcutaneous or intravenous fluids

A severely dehydrated diarrheic calf has severe eye recession in the skull, a prolonged skin tent at the shoulders of six seconds or more, and usually these calves have cold extremities, a dry nose, and appear weak and depressed. Severely dehydrated calves require immediate intervention to survive.