Improving Your Calf Program with Data

Calf data can be a valuable tool for improving calf health and performance, but with so many data points available it can be difficult to identify which ones matter to your bottom line.

Dr. Mike Nagorske, Director of Veterinary Technical Services and Research at SCCL, says you can start improving your calf program by focusing on the bottlenecks in your current calf management and performance.

What is a bottleneck?

Bottlenecks are areas in your calf program that prevent calves from reaching their full genetic potential. Common bottlenecks include:

Colostrum management: High quality colostrum delivered to calves within the first few hours of life is crucial to their survival, health and future profitability.
Scours and respiratory: Individuals who have suffered a respiratory disease as a calf have been proven through research to be less profitable cows, producing a lower milk yield and exhibiting a decreased average daily gain.
Performance: Calves who are not performing at their best will never meet their full genetic potential. Numerous studies have shown that preweaning average daily gain has a direct effect on pounds of milk produced in a heifer’s first lactation.

Assess your calf program

Start by diving deeper into your current calf management protocols. Have a conversation with your calf management team to address questions like:

Which calf data points are we currently collecting?
What are we doing well in terms of calf management? How is that reflected through data?
What are the bottlenecks in my calf program?
Which bottleneck(s) are top priority?
What are the data points I should be recording to monitor my highest priority bottlenecks?

Prioritizing just one bottleneck in your calf program will give your team focus and help narrow down which data points are most important to track, analyze and guide positive change.

Collecting calf data

Collecting the calf data may pose another hurdle – time and labor resources can be limited. VAS’ mobile solutions pair seamlessly with DairyComp to enable efficient data entry calfside and on the go.

Pocket CowCard is the original handheld mobile companion to on-premise DairyComp. Compatible with Windows Mobile or Android, Pocket CowCard can be used with or without an RFID scanner to input calf data including diseases, treatments, weights and more.

DC on Mobile is a cloud-based mobile app providing handheld data access via connection to VAS PULSE Platform when paired with local WiFi or your mobile data. Data entry can be performed offline, synching once connected to a wireless network. DC on Mobile is available on Android or IOS devices and can be used to enter data calfside and access numerous worklists.

If you’re a DairyComp user and interested in learning more about how mobile solutions can increase accuracy and speed up your data entry process, reach out to VAS Support.

Analyzing calf data in DairyComp

Once you have data, use it! Exploring your calf data will help your team identify trends, pinpoint outliers and initiate change. In a recent VAS webinar, Craig Walter, explains which DairyComp commands you should have handy when looking at calf data.

Interested in learning more about Dr. Nagorske’s calf research and how you can get started collecting calf data in DairyComp? Check out our recent VAS webinar, Managing Calf Data for Success, now available on-demand.