Dairy Team workshop to address calf weaning

Workshop to be held April 24 at Good View Farm in Bradford County from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Register now for this classroom and hands-on learning experience to learn proper feeding and management of calves and heifers to assure a good start for the next generation of heifers for your dairy farm.

This workshop will be held April 24 at Good View Farm, LLC, 1317 Glory Barn Road, Canton, Pa., Bradford County, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration fee is $15 and includes lunch. Deadline to register is April 22.

The workshop will offer sound advice on meeting basic requirements of nutrition, economics, general management and facility design.

The focus will be on weaning through pre-bred heifers, recognizing that cows may not reach their full genetic potential for future productivity without proper feeding and management of calves and heifers. Optimizing growth and health of young heifers requires high quality feeds, proper diet formulation, disease prevention and overall proper management techniques. Reducing unnecessary stress and the economics of raising heifers will be covered.

This workshop will also focus on calf and heifer housing and how ventilation, animal flow and feed and water availability all play crucial roles in successful heifer raising programs.

Participants will tour and discuss the facility design of the calf and heifer housing, and will analyze the heifer ration using the Penn State Particle Size Separator. Attention will also be paid to the importance of knowing the weights of maturing heifers.

Presenters will be Jud Heinrichs, professor of dairy science; Cassie Yost, Extension educator; and John Tyson, Extension educator.

To register, please visit https://extension.psu.edu/weaning-pre-bred-heifers.

A special thank you to First Citizens Community Bank for sponsoring lunch, to Jon Longenecker, Dairy Facts, LLC for sponsoring the milk and to Chemung Canal and Trust for their generous support.

For more information, call 877-345-0691 or email Cassie Yost, Franklin County dairy educator, at [email protected] or 717-263-9226, or Craig Williams, Dairy Team educator, at [email protected] or 570-724-9120.