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.