The University of Wisconsin-Extension dairy calf and heifer management website hosted by Department of Dairy Science has been re-tooled to provide more information to Dairy Team members.  Research and Extension information from the Department of Dairy Science (Pat Hoffman), University of Wisconsin-Extension (Tina Kohlman) and the Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine (Dr. Sheila McGuirk) was merged to provide more dairy calf and heifer information in one place.  Check the updated website out at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/heifermgmt/

Many choices exist when selecting calf housing.  Although individual calf hutches are the industry's preferred housing for the pre-weaned calf, dairy operators continue to build calf barns to address the discomfort and inconvenience of cold weather, snow and rain for the calf raiser.

Individual calf pens can be "microenvironments" within the calf barn.  Even though air movement appears to be fine in the barn, the enclosed calf pens were found by UW School of Veterinary Medicine Researchers to restrict air movement within the calf's individual environment.  This can result in increased bacteria counts and increased incidence of respiratory disease.  To minimize the effect of individual calf pens becoming "microenvironments" for the calf, UW-School of Veterinary Medicine's Dr. Ken Nordlund developed the "Ideal Wisconsin Calf Pen" to promote a healthy pen environment for the calf in a barn scenario.

A factsheet and diagrams detailing the concept of the "Ideal Wisconsin Calf Pen" is now available online at http://www.sheboygan.uwex.edu/ag/dairy/DairyHeiferManagement.html under the "Factsheets & Articles" Section.  This factsheet was developed as a joint effort with the UW-Extension Dairy Team and the UW-School of Veterinary Medicine.

For additional information with regards to improving air qualtiy and ventilation in calf barns, please also visit the UW-School of Veterinary Medicine's webpage http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/dms/fapm/fapmtools/ventilation.htm. 

As dairy operations grow and expand, so does the replacement dairy herd.  Although calf hutches are industry's preferred mehtod of housing pre-weaned calves, dairy operations are building calf barns to address the weather-related discomforts of the dairy workers.  Many of these barns, more specifically the individual calf pens located inside them, can become micro-environments with poor air quality and ventilation increasing the incidence of respiratory disease in pre-weaned calves. 

One way to help address the respiratory disease in such calf barns and increase air quality for the pre-weaned calf is to bring fresh air from the outside in via a positiave pressure tube ventilation system.  A two-page facthsheet developed Drs. by Brian Holmes (UW-Extension) and Ken Nordlund (UW-School of Veterinary Medicine) on Positive Pressure Tube Ventilation Systems is now availalbe on-line at http://sheboygan.uwex.edu/ag/dairy/DairyHeiferManagement.html under the "Factsheets & Articles" Section.

Also available online to help you when assisting dairy producers with questions with regards to the installation of the possitve pressure tube ventilation system, is an updated Excel spreadsheet based calculator developed by Dr. Brian Holmes.  The spreadsheet is designed to help determine the length, fan size and angles of holes one should have in the system for a particular system.

 Additonal information with regards to Calf Barn Ventilation is available at the UW-School of Veterinary Medicine website at http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/dms/fapm/fapmtools/ventilation.htm.

For more information or questns with regards to the Positive Pressure Tube Systems for calf barns, please contact Dr. Brian Holmes or Dr. Ken Nordlund.

Dr. Dave Kammel's "Ventilating Calf Barns in Winter:  Designing Facilities to Enhance Air Quality for the Calf" presentation is now available in PDF format at http://www.sheboygan.uwex.edu/ag/dairy/DairyHeiferManagement.html under the section "Presentations".

 This presentation was developed and presented at the 27th Annual Western Canadaian Dairy Herd Dairy Seminar held March 10-13, 2009.  Proceedings will be availalbe online in the new future at http://www.wcds.afns.ualberta.ca/.

 Appreciation is extended to Dr. Dave Kammel for allowing us to share his presentation.

PDF versions of the 2009 UW-Extension Dairy Team's "Raising Quality Dairy Heifers" Heifer (weaned to freshening) Management Meeting Presentations are now available online at http://www.sheboygan.uwex.edu/ag/dairy/DairyHeiferManagement.html under "Presentations".  Presentations and speaker include:

• Reproductive Mangement for Dairy Heifers-Dr. Paul Fricke, UWEX
• Smooth Transitions:  Feeding Heifers for a Smooth Transiton into Lactation-Dr. Noah Litherland, U of M Extension
• Cattle Handling Options for Heifers-Aerica Opatik, Kewaunee County UWEX
• Caring for the Pre-fresh Heifer: From the Womb to the Parlor-Dr. Phil Pearson, Dairyland Veterinary Clinic
• Keeping Heifer Profit Margins Profitable-Dr. Gregg Hadley, UWEX

Also, for a supplementary tool and resource for Dr. Hadley's presentation, please visit http://www.uwrf.edu/extension/GreggH.htm under "Papers, Reprots and Publications" two Enterprise Budget Analysis & Forecasting Decision Aids for the Dairy Calf and the Dairy Heifer Enterprises.

Appreciation is given to our speakers for allowing us to share their presentations on the web.