Dairy farm technology improves calf health outcomes at Bella Holsteins

As a dairy expands, standardized protocols and team support are important to ensure calves start out on the right foot and develop into strong heifers. That’s what Jerod Henrickson, general manager of Bella Holsteins in Platteville, Colorado, experienced. In a webinar presented by Professional Dairy Producers, Henrickson shared the tangible benefits dairy calf monitoring has brought to his operation. He was joined on the webinar by Jennifer Wilson, DVM, monitoring success specialist at Merck Animal Health.

Henrickson is an advocate for implementing dairy management systems. Having successfully used SenseHub® Dairy cow monitoring technology, he turned to SenseHub® Dairy Youngstock to meet the needs of his expanding herd and manage calves more efficiently.

Activate with ease

SenseHub Dairy Youngstock gives producers the opportunity to monitor calves 24/7 from birth onward. This technology provides data insights to support better management decisions through every stage of growth.

“The tag collects monitoring data over the first 27 hours of life to create a baseline,” explains Wilson. “Then individual calf data can be viewed in the system and used to flag animals that need extra attention.”

Installing SenseHub monitoring ear tags is now a routine part of newborn calf care protocols at Bella Holsteins. Tags are applied to each animal at birth alongside the first colostrum feeding and naval dipping.

Monitoring insights improve livestock management and cattle programs

Bella Holsteins was able to overcome the calf scours challenge they were experiencing. Across the 1,200 calves in hutches, SenseHub Dairy Youngstock helped Henrickson standardize identification and treatment to meet the needs of higher-risk animals and employee schedules.

“This data allowed us to update our protocols,” explains Henrickson. Calves that are flagged on the health report receive an electrolyte bottle, rather than immediate treatment on the first day. If calves appear on the report a second day, they are then given pharmaceuticals.

“We were over-treating calves. Using this data and new protocols, we have cut treatments in half,” Henrickson shares. In addition to reducing treatment, calves make a stronger recovery. “Before SenseHub Dairy Youngstock, our death loss was between two and three percent and now it’s between one and two percent.” Early intervention with dairy calves helped overcome a calf scours challenge at the farm and resulted in a roughly 50% reduction in herd removals by 90 days of age.

In addition to health events, monitoring can help identify bigger patterns. The monitoring data provides the opportunity to determine how protocols are working.

“You don’t know what you don’t know,” says Wilson. “This data can help find the opportunity to smooth transitions and update protocols.”

At Bella Holsteins, data generated by SenseHub technology helped reveal a gap in weaning protocols. Data showed calves’ feeding time and rumination time dropped significantly when they moved from hutches to group pens — indicating calves were stressed.

“We now keep calves in the hutch for an extra week and have better transitions from the hutch to the weaned group,” explains Henrickson. Additionally, tracking rumination data has highlighted how feed time, water, temperature and environment impact the calves. “Armed with that knowledge, we can modify those systems to minimize impacts on the calves.”

Calf health reports streamline labor

The system is not only working for the good of the dairy calves, but it is helping streamline teams and labor.

“The health report allows producers to use those employee skill sets and put them one-on-one with calves that need attention,” explains Wilson.

For Henrickson, the flexibility and ease for employees made SenseHub a no-brainer choice for calf monitoring. SenseHub tags are equipped with LED lights that illuminate when an animal requires attention. This light can be programmed for specific times in the day to align with employee schedules and tasks.

Calf health reports streamline labor

“Teams do not need to overthink with the health report. If a calf is on the list, she gets individual attention. If not, you can keep moving and rest assured that calves will end up on the list if there is a problem,” advises Wilson.

“We turn the lights on for two hours in the morning after feeding,” says Henrickson. “It used to take my team four hours to walk through calf pens, and now it takes two.” Prior to SenseHub, employees laid eyes on every calf, and providing accurate, individual care was a challenge.

“Teams do not need to overthink with the health report. If a calf is on the list, she gets individual attention. If not, you can keep moving and rest assured that calves will end up on the list if there is a problem,” advises Wilson.

Additionally, the system is adaptable for both technology savvy and more traditional pencil-to-paper employees.

“I let my staff use the system in whatever way they need to do their best work,” explains Henrickson. For some employees, this means using a printed report and looking for lighted tags. For others, it means interacting with the mobile app.

At Bella Holsteins, the health report has been good for employee morale. “My team is not overwhelmed; they know they are giving [calves] attention and better treatment,” says Henrickson.

Dairy monitoring provides strong ROI

“Individual treatment needs can be hard to pinpoint as a dairy grows,” comments Henrickson, “SenseHub Dairy Youngstock gave us that back.”

Calf monitoring has allowed Bella Holsteins to have better treatment outcomes and transitions, directly translating to ROI. Monitoring at an early age provides a deeper dataset and the ability to individually track animal history over a greater period of time.

“The tag can stay in through the duration of life, though most dairies opt for collars when entering the milking herd,” explains Wilson. At Bella Holsteins, tags remain on heifers through pregnancy confirmation. Animals then receive a SenseHub Dairy collar before first lactation.

Elevate your dairy calf health monitoring methods

“I’m a believer in monitoring,” Henrickson enthusiastically shares. “I think everyone should have it. The savings on the calves from reduced labor and treatment and death loss, it doesn’t take much to justify investing in the system.

Want to see how SenseHub Dairy Youngstock can make a difference on your operation? Click here to get started.

SenseHub® Dairy is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease in animals. For the diagnosis, treatment, cure or prevention of diseases in animals, you should consult your veterinarian. The accuracy of the data collected and presented through this product is not intended to match that of medical devices or scientific measurement devices.

US-SHB-260600007