I strongly believe having fresh, clean water available to my calves at all times is one of the secrets to raising strong, healthy calves. Also, we use lots of straw for bedding. The babies like to snuggle up in the straw and sleep. It is very important to keep the calf’s hair coat dry and clean. It keeps them insulated..

This calf is snuggled into her straw. Straw is the best kind of bedding for calves because it keeps them dry and warm.

When are the calves weaned?

Typically, I wean at 6 to 8 weeks of age. The calves are moved to a group pen; we have three weaning pens. Their pen is a large open area with two feeders, a hayrack (they get hay for the first time at weaning) and a water tank.

Calves are very demanding! They are born on our farm 24/7, 365 days a year, there are a lot of them and they very challenging to raise, but I LOVE THEM! They are the future of our farm, now who wouldn’t want to invest in that!

This Brown Swiss calf is munching away on her calf grain, which is a mixture of corn, pelleted grains and molasses.

Stay tuned to learn about how we care for our calves on our organic farm.