**Extended comments highlighted in blue. By Jim Peck With
tighter margins and increased costs, the cost of raising calves,
especially baby calves, often gets a critical review. Whether
it’s purchased milk replacer, waste milk or the farm’s whole
milk, there is a temptation to save money. On the other hand,
there is good evidence that attention to getting calves started
right has significant benefits on first lactation and lifetime
production. The evidence is mounting that growth rate and
health-related factors during the first 50 days of the milk
feeding period can have a benefit of as much as 1,500 to 2,000
lb. of additional milk production during the first lactation.
Calves that can be fed at rates to double their birth weight by
weaning, and that don’t have health issues severe enough to
require antibiotic treatment, outperform calves raised under
conventional programs resulting in more traditional growth
rates. The bottom line is that higher rates of gain in
preweaning calves have been shown to benefit pr