Part of the “Built to Perform. Built to Last.” series, exploring long-term performance in early calf environments. The challenge with scaling calf care isn’t simply having more calves. It’s having to get the same important things right more times. A feeding routine that works for 20 calves has to work again at 50. A cleaning…
Part of the “Built to Perform. Built to Last.” series, exploring long-term performance in early calf environments. Ask what a piece of calf equipment costs, and there is usually a number. Ask how quickly it will pay for itself, and the answer gets more complicated. That is where the sales pitch can creep in. Save…
Part of the “Built to Perform. Built to Last.” series, exploring long-term performance in early calf environments. Two calf housing systems can sit side by side on a quote, and the less expensive option is easy to identify. What the quote cannot show is what happens next. It doesn’t show the extra minutes spent cleaning…
Part of the “Built to Perform. Built to Last.” series, exploring long-term performance in early calf environments. Genetic progress represents an investment made long before a calf enters its first housing environment. Breeding decisions, genomic testing, reproductive technologies, and years of selection all contribute to the potential carried by a newborn calf. Once that calf…
Inside ADA™ | The ADA Standard in Action When livestock equipment arrives on a farm, most producers will never see the decisions that went into building it. They won’t see the material being selected, measurements being checked, fabrication taking place or the conversations on the shop floor when something doesn’t look quite right. What…
Part of the “Built to Perform. Built to Last.” series, exploring long-term performance in early calf environments. Zero calf loss is an outcome every producer would welcome. But it does not come from one piece of equipment, one protocol, or one management decision. Calf survival reflects many factors working together: colostrum and nutrition, sanitation, observation,…
The Efficiency Lab™ Series In modern pork production, efficiency is often measured in labor hours, pig throughput, employee retention, or production performance. But on many hog operations, the true starting point for efficiency is determined long before the first pig enters the barn. It starts with flow. Not just pig flow — but the flow…
Part of the “Built to Perform. Built to Last.” series, exploring long-term performance in early calf environments. The purchase price of a calf hutch is easy to calculate. The cost of working around a poorly designed system for years is much harder to see. A hutch may look like a relatively simple piece of equipment.…
The decisions you make today will impact your kids and grandkids. It is important to make the right decisions today so that the next generation will have a good, stable foundation to build upon. The same goes for our breeding decisions – the sires you AI to this year will affect the future of your…
Part of the “Built to Perform. Built to Last.” series, exploring long-term performance in early calf environments. Cleaning is a routine part of every calf program. Teams scrape pens, wash equipment, and rinse surfaces. On paper, the process seems straightforward. However, cleaning is not as simple as it looks. The difference often comes down…