Preconditioning. Weaning. Starting. Backgrounding. Whatever you want to call it, all of these cattle production terms involve getting calves off to a healthy start. A good start for healthy calves requires attention to two specific areas: your health and nutrition programs. Here are a few quick tips for healthy calves:
Health Program:
Work with your local veterinarian to determine your operations’ herd health program, which includes appropriate vaccinations and deworming protocols for calves in this phase.
Wean calves for a minimum of 45 days. This period of time allows them to adapt to separation from dams, transition onto feed and overcome other stress factors of weaning.
Nutrition Program:
Use starter feeds to help transition calves to their next phase of life.
Purina® Accuration® Starter Complete, Precon® Complete and Stress Care® 5 Supplement all contain RX3® Immune Support Technology, a precise combination of prebiotics, probiotics and plant extracts. These starters achieve both health and nutrition goals by supporting calves during stress and respiratory challenges while optimizing the plane of nutrition.
See Farmer Co-op’s selection here.
Visit purinamills.com/RX3 for more weaning advice and quick tips for healthy calves.
