Good question, especial because your young stock are the milking cows of the near future. Some general tips are to keep boxes clean, feed them well, offer sufficient space, offer access to go outside. In general overall hygiene is important. Though, it is also very location depending.
Do you have specific issues you want to address or solve?
It is recommended to: Clean young stock by keeping bedding dry, grooming often, feeding cleanly, and managing waste daily. Good airflow and hygiene prevent mess before it starts.
One thing that’s helped us a lot with young stock hygiene is keeping the bedding forks and water buckets separate by age group, especially when we’re short-staffed. It sounds simple, but sharing tools between calves and heifers can quietly spread bacteria or viruses even when things look clean. We color-code buckets and pitchforks, and it’s made a noticeable difference in respiratory cases and scours. Easy fix, big payoff!
hey gabe, to be honest i was doing this for a while but it didn't seem efficient. it was taking longer to sort it out by age groups, how did you overcome this?
