Calves with Sam

Computer-controlled or Automatic Feeder

Internet Links - Part 2

As part of her presentation, "Thinking about? Already Partnered with? Computer controlled calf feeders" at the 2014 Calf Congress in Rochester, NY on December 10, Dr. Chris Rossiter Burhans included an interesting list of internet links. Two more of them are below - happy hunting!

Dairy Herd Management articles in 2014

The first in a series of two articles written by Maureen Hanson addresses the question: "Automatic Feeders - How are they working?" The author pulls together ideas from a number of sources in this informative article. At the end is the link to the Iowa State University fact sheets:
1. http://www.extension.iastate.edu/dairyteam/sites/www.extension.iastate.edu/files/dairyteam/Designing%20an%20automatic%20feeding%20system.pdf - you can see the title - Designing an automatic feeding system.

2. http://www.extension.iastate.edu/dairyteam/sites/www.extension.iastate.edu/files/dairyteam/2014-ACF%20Summary-FINAL.pdf this fact sheet summarizes the results of an Iowa State survey of 20 farms using automatic calf feeders.

3. http://www.extension.iastate.edu/dairyteam/sites/www.extension.iastate.edu/files/dairyteam/Automatic%20Calf%20Feeders%20Factsheet-2012.pdf this fact sheet pulls together many facts about automatic calf feeders, considerations for increasing the effectiveness of these feeders and reviews the costs and returns of their use.

If you are really into the economic analysis of auto feeder use this web site has a working spreadsheet and a guide for its use for your dairy. Click HERE to go to the site - then scroll down to FACT SHEETS and select the spreadsheet or guide to download.



The second in the series of articles is in interview format. Three calf managers share their experiences: Jeanne Wormuth from Elba, New York with 16 pens and about 320 calves on milk (her picture is the third one in the article), Debbie Feldpausch from Westphalia, MI with about 280 calves on milk,  and Bruce Telleen from Monticello, IA with 4 pens and about 30 calves on milk.

 Click HERE to go to the article.