Farms.com Home   News

Feeding changes open opportunities

There’s a strong relationship between health and growth in a calf’s early life and that animal’s lifetime production. That means what happens to a calf in its first few hours and days is extremely critical, particularly concerning what it’s fed.

What, how much and when to feed calves is changing and opens new opportunities for producers to impact the long-term health, growth and productivity of their animals, said Michael Steele, a professor in the University of Guelph-Department of Animal Biosciences.

“You can mold the calf when it’s born,” he said. “We call this developmental plasticity, which is strong early in life and goes down as time goes on.”

Click here to see more...

Trending Video

From Barns to Better Solutions: PigTek’s Producer Perspective

Video: From Barns to Better Solutions: PigTek’s Producer Perspective

At the 2025 World Pork Expo, Rachel Fishback spoke with Michelle Workman of PigTek, who shared how her production background helps shape real-world solutions. Michelle emphasized the value of hands-on experience in understanding producers' challenges and creating equipment that truly works in barns. One example she shared showed how her insight improved animal flow — proving PigTek isn’t just building equipment, they’re building with purpose.