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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.”

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First Moments: Caring for Newborn Lambs at Ewetopia Farms

Video: First Moments: Caring for Newborn Lambs at Ewetopia Farms

First moments caring for newborn lambs is very important and oftentimes not as easy as you may think! Lambing season is in full swing at Ewetopia Farms, and today’s vlog is all about those crucial first moments after birth. Ensuring lambs get their first colostrum is our top priority, giving them the antibodies they need to thrive. But as you’ll see, ewes—especially first-time mothers—don’t always make it easy!