Like us, our dogs are now living longer than ever, thanks to advances in veterinary medicine, nutrition and overall care. However, this longevity comes at a price, as it only increases the chances for your canine companion to develop a common form of arthritis known as degenerative joint disease (DJD) or osteoarthritis.

What is DJD and why do dogs get it?

Again, much like we humans, our pets’ joint tissues often begin to deteriorate with age. This process is commonly gradual and affects the smooth layer of cartilage known as articular cartilage that is found at the ends of bones in one or more joints. Articular cartilage plays a key role in reducing friction within joints and allowing them to move smoothly. The breakdown of this protective cushion often leads to pain, inflammation and a decreased range of motion. While any joint can be affected, DJD often compromises a dog’s lower back and limbs.

Of course, some dogs are at an increased risk for developing this ailment, including large or giant breeds, due to their general size and weight placing more mechanical stress on their joints, as well as those who compete in high-impact sports, such as agility, dock diving or flyball. Poor nutrition, conformation and genetics are other potential factors. DJD can also develop as the result of a bone or joint injury or in connection to the stress of extra weight on joints in overweight or obese dogs. This is just one more reason why it is vitally important to keep your dog at a healthy body weight at all stages of life.

What are some signs of canine osteoarthritis?

A lasting vestige of their wild origins, dogs often instinctively hide their pain until it becomes severe, as showing signs of weakness would have made their ancestors vulnerable to potential predation. An obviously lame dog may be in potentially serious pain, which could be a sign that the DJD has reached an advanced stage. It is, therefore, especially important to monitor aging canines and those with a possible predisposition for subtle early warning signs, such as:

• Stiffness — often noticeable as your dog moves from a lying to standing position
• Lethargy — you may suddenly realize that your dog is sleeping a lot more than usual
• Irritability, especially in response to being touched in certain areas
• Inability or reluctance to jump into the car or onto furniture
• Hesitance or refusal to take stairs
• Decreased interest in activities such as walks or playtime

If you suspect that your dog might be suffering from arthritic pain, schedule an exam with your vet in order to obtain a definitive diagnosis and to formulate a plan for treatment.

What are the treatment and management recommendations?

Unfortunately, DJD is a progressive condition with no known cure. Treatment goals should include providing pain relief, fostering an improved quality of life and being as proactive as possible in delaying any further progression of this ailment. If you have a dog with arthritis, your vet may prescribe or recommend anti-inflammatory drugs, pain-relieving medications and/or joint supplements, which often contain glucosamine, methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), hyaluronic acid (HA) or chondroitin sulfate. For more advanced cases of this disease, an injectable, disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug (such as Adequan^®) that has been designed to inhibit cartilage loss in a dog’s joints may be recommended. Alternative therapies — including acupuncture, laser therapy, aqua therapy, chiropractic adjustment and massage for dogs with arthritis — are also an option and may be used in conjunction with medication. In more severe cases, surgery to remove damaged joint tissue or to replace the joint entirely may be required.

Weight control is by far the most critical aspect of managing DJD. At an ideal body weight, you should be able to feel your dog’s ribs easily but not see them, and you should be able to see a visible waist when looking at your dog from above and a tucked-up belly when viewing your dog from the side. If you suspect that your dog needs to lose some weight, consult with your veterinarian about putting together a diet plan.

You may also find it best to modify your dog’s activity levels, perhaps retiring from high-impact events like agility or flyball and replacing them with more controlled activities, such as regular on-leash walks. It is important to keep your dog moving, even if it’s at a slower pace than what you both might be used to, as consistent low-impact exercise serves to maintain the tone of muscles that promote joint stability and helps to combat overall stiffness.

You may want to place an orthopedic dog bed or two around the house (away from cold or damp areas) to help alleviate joint pressure as your pet rests. You may also provide carpeted steps or a ramp to help your pet get up onto or down from higher resting spots, such as the bed or couch. Many owners might also wish to place additional non-skid runner rugs throughout the home to help their arthritic dogs navigate slippery footing more easily.

Fortunately, dogs often live comfortably for years following a DJD diagnosis, so long as proactive steps are taken to manage this condition.

I want to learn more about pet health and nutrition.

Weaning piglets effectively is critical for farmers to ensure they are healthy and productive. Pigs that do not transition well from milk to a solid diet have their gut health compromised and become susceptible to disease challenges. Ernie Hansen, manager of swine nutrition and technical services at Hubbard Feeds, sits down with Tom Martin to explain the strategies producers can implement to support a successful transition and improve long-term pig production. 

The following is an edited transcript of Tom Martin's interview with Ernie Hansen, manager of swine nutrition and technical services at Hubbard Feeds. Click below to hear the full audio:

Tom:              This is Tom Martin, and I'm here with Ernie Hansen, manager of swine nutrition and technical services at Hubbard Feeds. He joins us to talk about transitioning piglets at weaning from milk to solid food. Thanks for being with us, Ernie.

Ernie:             All right, thank you.

Tom:              What are some of the problems that producers face when they begin weaning piglets from milk and moving them to a solid diet?

Ernie:             Well, helping pigs make a smooth transition at weaning has always been a high priority for pig farmers. Today's high-producing genetics have been selected to wean 30-plus pigs per sow per year and to produce pigs that will reach a market weight at or in excess of 300 pounds, and to do this quickly and efficiently. This performance level and, even more importantly, the way these pigs start on feed is drastically different than pigs from ten years ago.

                        Couple these factors with the known stressors of weaning — weaning age, the physical separation from the mother sow, commingling, transportation, the environment difference, and the traditional milk-to-solid-food transition — and that's a stark reminder that there is no substitute for good animal husbandry for the first week post-weaning. The old adage is certainly as true now as it ever was: "A pig never gets over a good or bad start."

Tom:              What are some of the outcomes seen in a piglet that does not transition well post-wean?

Ernie:             Health is a big factor at this stage of life for the piglet. If pigs aren't eating well, gut health is compromised, and this can affect their overall health and make them susceptible to disease challenges. This requires farm workers to spend more time treating pigs, and depending on how severe the challenge is, there may be an increase in mortality and morbidity as well.

                        We use the term "all-value pigs." This is a reference to the pigs that reached the targeted market weight on time with minimal health challenges. These all-value pigs represent the highest returns for farmers and the greatest opportunity for increased profitability.

Tom:              So, what is the importance of feed intake? What does the producer need to be thinking about as piglets are making this transition?

Ernie:             To make it very simple, intake is everything at this stage of the pig's life. Healthy pigs are very efficient. That means every extra bite of feed is extra weight gain. It's the most efficient and cost-effective growth the pig will experience.

Tom:              Why is gut health critical at this particular phase in a pig's life?

Ernie:             You may not realize it, but the gut is the first line of defense for the young pig and is actually a large part of the immune system. It's a barrier that keeps out bacteria, and if it’s not functioning properly, those bacteria get into the pig's bloodstream and can spread, causing disease challenges for the pig. As more research is done on gut health and gut function, we're discovering that pigs don't always fully recover from the initial attacks on their system. While it may look like they recover and have good performance, research is showing they won't have gains as good as those pigs that didn’t experience the health challenges early in life.

Tom:              So, what steps or management techniques should producers and farmers take to make sure that pigs transition well post-wean?

Ernie:             We work closely with our customers in a couple of different areas to help pigs get started on feed. Frequency of feeding for the first week in the nursery is critical. The more times we can be in the barn feeding the pigs, the better they will start. In some cases, just walking through the barn and getting the pigs up will stimulate them to eat.

                        Secondly, identifying fallback pigs as early as possible — early intervention — helps transition those pigs to get them back on track. Use of a gruel or a highly fortified feed is essential to get the right nutrients into these young pigs.

Tom:              Some pigs are naturally inclined to not eat as well while they're transitioning from a liquid to solid diet, so it's important for producers to do what they can to motivate those pigs to eat more. How does Viligen® play a role in this key part of their transition from milk to solids?

Ernie:             Viligen is an intake stimulant. It's combined with certain nutrients and palatability factors that not only encourage them to eat — to eat more, to take that first bite of feed — but it also has gut health components that help support the gut in overcoming challenges that the environment brings to that pig. So, it causes them to eat more and then supports their health. A healthy pig that eats is going to grow faster and more efficiently throughout its entire life.

Tom:              Tell us about the feeding trials using Viligen that were conducted by Hubbard Feeds.

Ernie:             So, we started Viligen trials about nine months ago (Oct. 2017) after an Innovation Group meeting at Alltech. We did some simple trials and the pigs performed well above expectations. We had improvements in gains that were really quite remarkable. We redid the trial and we duplicated those improvements in gains.

                        In the second trial, we had a significantly higher degree of overall health challenges, and we're able to see that we had not only improvements in intake and gains, but that led to improvements in overall health. We treated fewer pigs for health issues, we pulled fewer pigs out of the pens that weren't starting and we had fewer pigs die in the trial.

Tom:              How big of a role does formulation of feed play at this stage when the piglet is transitioning from milk to solids?

Ernie:             Diet formulation plays a critical role for these young pigs as they transition from the sow’s milk to dry starters. Diets are more complex to supply the nutrients that will promote good gut health, which is important for nutrient absorption and utilization. High-quality ingredients are key to the digestibility of the young pig and also reduce the chance of adverse interactions with other ingredients.

                        Finally, ingredients that promote intake are an important technology to include in the nursery diet. People often think of flavors in milk products to encourage intake, but we're excited about Viligen, which our research has shown to improve intake and health in these young pigs. Viligen — which is a blend of fatty acids, prebiotic components and mineral nutrients — helps condition the gut mucosa, which helps get ready for rapid growth because of the improved feed intake.

Tom:              Ernie Hansen, manager of swine nutrition and technical services at Hubbard Feeds, joining us from Mankato, Minnesota. Thank you for being with us, Ernie.

Ernie:             Thank you much.      

I want to learn more about supporting piglet health and feed intake during weaning. 

When you hear the word “nutrigenomics,” your first reaction may be “What in the world is that?” Nutrigenomics is an up-and-coming research field that aims to understand how nutrition can influence an animal’s genome and what that means for animal health and production. It isn’t genetic engineering or modification, but rather a way of measuring changes in the activity of genes that result from changes in an animal’s diet. This field of research opens many doors that were previously closed in classic animal nutrition and allows us to better understand how “you are what you eat,” or rather, your chickens are what you feed them.

What is nutrigenomics?

Before we can talk about nutrigenomics, let’s do a quick review of molecular biology. Each animal has what’s called a genome that contains all of the genetic material, or DNA, of an animal and provides the basic blueprint for life. These carefully drawn out plans provide the blueprint for that animal’s life. However, outside influences, such as nutrition, can have a strong impact on the expression of this genetic information, or essentially how that blueprint is read.

Over the last decade, genomes have begun to be sequenced. This means that we know the approximate makeup of an animal’s entire genome. Identifying the genome sequences opened the door for cutting-edge research approaches to understand the molecular mechanisms behind everyday life. Even more importantly, we can now use genomic technologies to understand how each of the genes in that genomic sequence responds to outside influences and how this relates to the health and disease of an animal. The genomic sequence is very stable, so changes in function and activity come from up-regulating (“turning on”) or down-regulating (“turning off”) individual genes to produce (or decrease) products called transcripts in response to a stimulus like nutrition.  These transcripts code for the proteins that make up structures and functions in the cells, so the result is that changes occur in physiological processes like energy production or immune response.

Nutrigenomics is the field of research we use to study these changes in gene activities that occur because of changes in the animal’s diet. This information can help us better understand how nutrition influences animal health and production by giving us insights into what is going on within the cell in response to changes in the diet. We can measure the response in animal tissue using a technology called DNA microarrays. These tools are the basis of nutrigenomics studies and allow researchers to profile the activity of all the genes on a genome at once. The information gathered from nutrigenomics studies can provide us with a better understanding of nutrition by giving us clues to how nutrients work, why different forms of nutrients have different effects and how such nutrients can be optimized for health and production.

How can we use nutrigenomics to further poultry nutrition?

Current research can paint us a picture of how nutrigenomics is being applied to poultry nutrition. For example, recent work at Alltech has helped decipher why different forms of nutrients in the diet, such as Bioplex® organic minerals versus inorganic forms of minerals, can have very different effects on animal health. Before nutrigenomics, analyses like animal growth and tissue nutrient content gave us only part of the picture. But now, we can understand why changes occur.

Mineral matters

We know that Bioplex minerals support increased tissue levels. Through nutrigenomics, we identified changes in important transport proteins in the intestine that lead to increased mineral uptake into tissues when Bioplex zinc is used in poultry diets. In a similar fashion, we used nutrigenomics to understand why Sel-Plex® has a greater effect on reproduction than inorganic selenium. Traditional poultry nutrition studies were only able to reach the conclusion that it was due to selenium’s role in antioxidant defenses. However, nutrigenomics data confirmed this and, more importantly, indicated that selenium in the form of Sel-Plex could alter genes involved in energy production and reproductive signaling in the oviduct. In males, it made a clear impact on genes involved in tissue structure and function.

Early birds

Another area in which nutrigenomics is leading to a new understanding of the importance of nutrition is nutritional programming. This concept is the idea that nutrition, especially early in life, can have lasting imprints on an animal’s entire life. By understanding the gene expression patterns that are targeted by early life nutrition, we can begin to determine how this programming occurs and use it to our advantage in poultry production. For example, nutrigenomics studies have shown that changing the trace mineral content in the post-hatch diet can have long-term effects on genes in the gastrointestinal tract that are important for nutrient transport and for intestinal tissue structure. These genes remain changed in the adult bird weeks after the post-hatch period.

In the future, the information that nutrigenomics provides us could change the way we feed birds and make poultry nutrition a more precise field. Molecular findings can add to our understanding of how nutrition influences animal production and health and how we can use nutrition to get the best out of our animals. Nutrigenomics provides a way to know preciously what nutrients, timing of nutrients or combinations of nutrients are optimal. Through this information, we can not only streamline nutrition, but improve performance, efficiency and health.

Have a question or comment?

Tom:                            Paul Groenewegen is the director of innovation and nutrition at Masterfeeds, Inc., an Alltech company. He’s joining us for a look into the question: more pigs, more problems? Thanks for joining us.

Paul:                            Thanks for having me.

Tom:                            What would you identify as the current big disruptor in the swine industry?

Paul:                            The big disruptor right now is keeping as many piglets alive as possible and getting them to market quickly. Our genetics companies have done an incredibly good job at allowing us to have prolific animals. Sows can now have lots of baby pigs. The key is how we get those pigs to market and how we make sure those pigs are of the best quality for consumers.

Tom:                            What does increased pork production mean for the global industry in 2017?

Paul:                            Increased pork production means a greater supply of high-quality protein in the form of bacon, ham, sausage — anything you can get from a pig — for an ever-increasing population and a more affluent society.

Tom:                            Are more piglets per sow sustainable?

Paul:                            Absolutely. When I started in the industry 30 years ago, if you could wean 20 pigs per sow per year, you were doing an excellent job. You were an industry leader.

                                    Now, if we look at countries like Denmark, their industry average of pigs per sow is in the mid-30s. Suddenly you’re producing 50 to 60 percent more pigs per sow per year than were produced a mere 30 years ago. So, that is extremely sustainable. Where the end is, we’re not quite sure. As of right now, it’s very sustainable, and it is an industry necessity to continue producing more and more pigs per sow per year.

Tom:                            What are the consequences of more piglets per litter?

Paul:                            Variability. One of the largest challenges we have in animal agriculture today is variability of animals within a group. So, if you have 16 to 18 piglets in a litter, you’re going to have ranges in weight from 500 grams to about 1.5 kilograms. The average may be 1.1 kilograms to 1.2 kilograms, but you have some very small pigs.

            The real challenge is not only from the survival perspective of those piglets, but also how we allow those piglets to survive and make it to market economically.

                                    We are also concerned with how the piglets are raised in utero, making sure that muscle fiber development is ideal for product quality when they go to market.  

Tom:                            How do producers find a balance between quantity and quality?

Paul:                            It’s a fine balance. As management and nutrition have continued to improve along with genetics, producers are learning ways to increase the number of piglets weaned per sow per year. They are always driving for more piglets, obviously, but the key is management, housing, sanitation and the health of these animals. Improving on those attributes is key to allowing those piglets to survive.

Tom:                            Why is weaning such a critical time?

Paul:                            Well, it’s a critical time because you’re going to change the diet of the baby pig from a milk-based diet to a dry feed-based diet. And there are big implications on the gut of the pig and the gastrointestinal tract. We get villous atrophy. We get different things happening as feed intake drops.

                                    It’s a whole social order as well. So, you have 12 to 14 piglets in a litter. Everyone knows one another. They get weaned. They get taken to a facility where all of a sudden they could be with 30 or 40 others. They’re mixed by size because it helps from a production perspective. So, there’s a whole new social order that’s required.

                                    Mom is no longer there. It’s a fact of life. And they have to learn to eat out of a feeder. They have to learn to drink out of a water bowl. They have to learn to do things differently, and that’s why it’s such a huge challenge for these pigs. In some cases, they’re trucked a long way. In the old-fashioned farrow to finish operation, you would run the piglets down the hallway to the nursery. Now, you put them on a truck and you may truck them one or two hours to the barn. That’s a huge stress on those pigs. But, from a nutrition management, health and welfare perspective, farmers are doing an excellent job to make sure all those pigs survive and do the best they can.

Tom:                            What should producers be paying attention to during this critical time?

Paul:                            I would say one of the most critical things is making sure mom is looked after. Everything that you want the piglet to receive comes through mom in the first three to four weeks of life, before weaning. Make sure the sow’s nutrition program is fully implemented and that the sow can transfer trace elements like selenium to the baby pig, which they really require around weaning time.

                                    Make sure technologies in the feed increase immunoglobulins in the colostrum. As litter size increases, we want mom to produce more colostrum so that all piglets get the same amount and quality. Start with how the sow is treated, from gestation to lactation, to give the piglet the absolute best start. Look after the other details once they get to the nursery.

Tom:                            What lessons can we learn from human infant formulas for pork feed formulas?

Paul:                            That’s a great question because pigs have been used as a model for human infants for years. In fact, I worked with a university professor who spent his whole career using baby pigs as models for human infant formula development. As we enhance human infant formulas and look at technologies such as different types of structural carbohydrates or DHA and selenium, we can learn from those formulations and apply them to baby pigs.

                                    We want the diet that piglets receive after weaning to deliver nutrients in the most bioavailable form, enhance gut development and overall performance, and to increase survivability.

Tom:                            You’ve brought up colostrum. How do we ensure for piglets that they receive an adequate supply?

Paul:                            There are on-farm techniques that can be used such as split-suckling, analyzing litter size and the duration of farrowing time. Obviously, the first pig born has a better opportunity for receiving colostrum than the last pig born. But, there are management techniques that ensure each piglet gets the same amount of time with mom to access as much colostrum as they can.

                                    Also, technology can be used in sow feed to enhance colostrum production. Research shows that by using some Alltech technologies, we can increase colostrum production and also increase immunoglobulin concentration of that colostrum. We’re ensuring that even in bigger litters, all piglets are getting the same amount of higher-quality colostrum, which leads to increased survivability and increased weaning weights.

                                    Pigs never overcome a bad start. If we can get the baby pig off to a good start with colostrum via the mother sow, then we’re off to the races!

Tom:                            What is lactoferrin, and why is it important?

Paul:                            Lactoferrin is a protein that’s required for iron absorption and gut development within the baby pig. It’s one of the proteins found in milk.

                                    New research shows that when lactoferrin is available in the post-weaning diet, it continues to enhance gastrointestinal function. When you enhance gastrointestinal function and development, the baby pig will absorb more nutrients of high-quality feed.  

Tom:                            What about DHA?

Paul:                            Again, since baby pigs are used as models for humans and vice-versa, we know that human infants and baby pigs both require DHA for overall health. DHA enhances the function and development of central nervous system tissues and promotes the general welfare of pigs.

Tom:                            We’ve talked about colostrum. We’ve talked about lactoferrin. We’ve talked about DHA. What about nucleotides? Why are they important?

Paul:                            Nucleotides are the building blocks of DNA. We know that the baby animal already produces some nucleotides. But to support fast-growing intestinal cells, we should also provide nucleotides.

                                    As intestinal tissue grows very rapidly in a young animal, we need to supply enough nucleotides to build the DNA, to build the tissue, to build a more functional gastrointestinal track so that the pigs can absorb more nutrients from their diet.

Tom:                            What would you say is the ideal starter diet for piglets?

Paul:                            The ideal starter diet is high in digestibility, contains functional proteins and contains nutrients like nucleotides and glutamic acid, which is the primary energy source of the developing enterocyte. We want to make sure we support gut development as quickly as possible. We’re looking for diets with highly palatable ingredients and diets that contain other functional nutrients like lactoferrin to drive absorption and the development of the gastrointestinal tract.

                                    An overall ideal diet should improve intake and digestibility while reducing nutritional inadequacies and disorders.  

Tom:                            Given everything that you’ve just discussed, can producers continue to decrease production cost without affecting performance?

Paul:                            To a point, I believe we can. As we increase pigs per sow per year, our cost per piglet weaned will go down. You’re going to spend more money to have a better sow diet, but your overall cost of production per sow or per piglet weaned per sow will go down.

                                    Then, as we enhance the starter diets post-weaning, we are going to improve nutrient absorption. It becomes a cycle: As we provide functional nutrients in a diet to drive gut development, that enhanced, developed gastrointestinal tract then absorbs more nutrients out of the diet.

                                    Subsequently, we know that the faster a pig starts post-weaning, the faster they go to market. That will reduce cost of production overall.

Tom:                            Based upon that, as the global population increases and as parts of the world such as India and Africa enter the middle-class, how are we going to meet the increased demand for pork? You’ve addressed efficiency. Are there other ways to meet that demand?

Paul:                            When you think about it, there are approximately 100 million sows globally. If a sow has two litters per year and we save just one pig per litter from dying of inadequate nutrition, we’re talking about 200 million more pigs available to consumers.

                                    By enhancing nutrition to allow for increased survivability of piglets, those 2 million additional pigs provide high-quality protein to the ever-growing population.

Tom:                            Bringing this home and considering all the aspects of the life cycle of a pig, how do these changes affect the average consumer’s kitchen table?

Paul:                            What we’re going to have is high-quality pork raised with the utmost humanity at a very affordable rate for our consumers.

Tom:                            Are there any other trends, any other things that we should be paying attention to in the swine industry?

Paul:                            I think the big trend to focus on is the advancement of nutrition, management and genetics. We have to make sure nutrition management keeps up with the ever-changing acceleration of genetics. By utilizing technologies like we’ve discussed today, we’ll provide the nutrients required by faster-growing, more efficient pigs and continue to produce that high-quality protein that the consumer demands.

Tom:                            Paul Groenewegen, director of innovation and nutrition at Masterfeeds, Inc., an Alltech company. Thanks for joining us.

Paul:                            Thank you.

Paul Groenewegen spoke at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE17). To hear more talks from the conference, sign up for the Alltech Idea Lab.

Calf care is key to the profitability and longevity of a herd. When it comes to attention to detail and calf health management, there are few better than White Rock Farms in Peachland, North Carolina.

Owned and operated by Roddy Purser, White Rock Farms of Peachland, North Carolina, includes a 600-head Jersey dairy farm, hog houses and a layer operation. An innovative first-generation dairyman, Roddy saw opportunity in the dairy industry, and he knew that the secret to success was putting together a capable team equipped with both passion for the industry and the knowledge to build a successful herd.

Dakota Sparks is one of those team members. She is in charge when it comes to managing calves at White Rock Farms.

Drew Gibson and Dakota Sparks, herd managers at White Rock Farms

Dakota has helped White Rock Farms to maintain a less than 1 percent death loss on the farm since the beginning in 2014. She attributes this astounding success to four key elements: an employee dedicated to calves, cleanliness, a prevention approach and no cutting corners.

How White Rock Farms has kept their calf death loss to less than 1% since 2014

1. An employee dedicated to calves

Dedicating an employee to calves can be difficult for many farms, but as a farm grows, it becomes even more important.

Dakota is the manager of White Rock Farms’ calf area, a responsibility she takes very seriously. Feeding

calves twice a day starts with the White Rock Farms’ team removing water buckets and replacing them with milk buckets. This gives employees the opportunity to check calves while emptying, cleaning and refreshing water. These opportunities to observe calves are important for identifying any illnesses or abnormalities, so Dakota and her team devote their full attention to the task.

2. Cleanliness

Once utilized, every hutch is cleaned. All sand and gravel are removed, and the hutch is kept vacant for one to two weeks.

Once ready for a new resident, Dakota’s team utilizes a layer of black cloth at the bottom to keep the sand from falling through and then adds new gravel. This attention to detail reduces disease transmission from one calf to another, giving newborn calves the best possible opportunity for a healthy start. Not only are the hutches cleaned and sanitized after each calf, but calf buckets are sanitized after each feeding.

After the calves are fed milk, their buckets are cleaned in a three-stage process:

1. The first water bath includes 125°F water with soap.
2. The second bath contains 145°F water with soap.
3. The third and final bath holds cold, chlorinated water.

Buckets are then stacked to air dry before the next feeding.

3. Prevention approach

Antibiotics are used only in instances of severe illness, but are rarely needed, according to Dakota. By taking a preventative approach, the need for therapeutic treatment is minimized.

White Rock Farms pasteurizes all colostrum and milk that is fed to calves and frequently utilizes electrolytes in water to help give calves a little boost. Dakota remarks that, when used properly, there can be substantial cost savings to pasteurizing milk for calves, especially once the cost of the pasteurizer is recouped (which occurred in two years for White Rock Farms).

4. No cutting corners

All colostrum is tested. This test is to identify the quality of the colostrum based on IgG antibody levels in the milk. If it meets the requirements, it is then used, refrigerated or frozen if not utilized within 24 hours. The frozen containers are organized and marked with the necessary information to enable easy retrieval of bags.

Roddy is confident the extra investments are worthwhile, as evidenced by heifers that are outperforming their mothers. With a solid foundation of nutrition, their calves have a healthy jumpstart on reaching breeding age with minimal illness.

White Rock Farms is a customer of CPC Commodities, based in Cowpens, South Carolina and is currently feeding the following Alltech products: Select GH®, Yea-Sacc®, Integral® A+, Bioplex® Hi-Four, Optigen® and Sel-Plex®