Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Did we feed colostrum? Yes, No, Maybe?

As soon as a dairy gets large enough to have more than one person feeding colostrum to newborn calves this question comes up: "Did we feed colostrum? Yes, No, Maybe?

One of my client dairies uses these paint sticks as their record keeping method.

First feeding is one orange mark on forehead of newborn calf.
Second feeding is one blue mark on forehead of same newborn calf. 
Third feeding is on pink mark on forehead of same newborn calf. 

The calf carries her colostrum feeding history with her everywhere she goes - no need to check paperwork to know if she needs another feeding. 

The dairy also records the volume fed and feeding time on a dry-erase board in the utility room along with the initials of  person feeding colostrum. They take a picture of the board once a day so no paper is generated. 

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