Health & Welfare Archives

Overheard at Dairy-Tech 2026

All the questions and answers from Dairy-Tech 2024, from weaning to how to prevent bullying behaviour amongst your calves.

Development of the Calf Gastrointestinal Tract: Rumen Growth, Epithelial Maturation, and Microbial Colonisation

Explore how the calf gut transforms from monogastric to ruminant, and why early starter feed, VFAs and microbiome colonisation are key to rumen growth, health and performance.

Lumpy Skin Disease

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a notifiable viral disease in cattle and water buffalo, spread mainly by biting insects. While it poses no risk to humans, LSD can cause severe economic losses through reduced milk production, trade restrictions, and cattle deaths. Learn about its symptoms, prevention, and control measures.

Don’t let flies compromise your youngstock health

Flies can cause serious stress, disease, and productivity loss in young calves during the summer months. This guide covers effective fly control for calves using hygiene, traps, and natural solutions like garlic supplementation to help protect your youngstock and maintain animal health.

Management Considerations for Bluetongue Movement Restrictions

Managing calves during Bluetongue movement restrictions requires strict hygiene, proper housing, and strong colostrum protocols. Learn how to protect your herd under movement restrictions.

Bluetongue: What to look out for in Calves

Bluetongue can be passed to the unborn fetus from an infected pregnant cow. Calves are typically born small and weak, blind or deformed. Death of calves can occur after a few days of birth. While the clinical signs are more severe in sheep, cattle can present signs of the disease. The main clinical signs of […]

Bluetongue: What you need to know

Bluetongue can be passed to the unborn fetus from an infected pregnant cow. Calves are typically born small and weak, blind or deformed. Death of calves can occur after a few days of birth. While the clinical signs are more severe in sheep, cattle can present signs of the disease. The main clinical signs of […]

Beef cross calves thrive on two step feeding regime

A two-step approach to calf milk replacer (CMR) feeding has helped a Leicestershire dairy farm cut calf deaths to under 2% and lower the incidence of scour. John Greaves and his family run a herd of 220 all-year-round calving Holstein Friesians at Lodge Farm. It is an 800-acre mixed dairy, beef and arable farm. They […]

How to get the best out of automatic calf feeders: Part 2

Following on from our previous article on automatic calf feeders, this part focuses on the calf management practices needed to get the most out of machine feeding. The Importance of Excellent Stockmanship It is more important than ever that the right person is dedicated to looking after the calves. A good stockperson will physically check […]

How prepared are your calves for grazing grass?

A calf that underperforms during its first grazing season is likely to fall short on key performance indicators. What can farmers do [...]