Early Calf Health Leads To Later Calf Health

By: Gene Johnston

If a calf does well early – even before he’s born – he tends to do well later. Mark Hilton, beef cattle technical services veterinarian for Elanco, says that if a calf doesn’t get adequate colostrum in the first day of life, he’s three times as likely to get BRD (bovine respiratory disease) in the feedlot a year later.

“Nearly every disease in cattle is the result of an accumulation of previous errors in management,” says Hilton.