Management Factors to Improve Health in Newborn Calves

For most beef cow herds, the single most important means of increasing income is increasing the number of calves weaned and sold, relative to the number of cows in the operation, or by definition, increasing reproductive efficiency. While certain production and carcass traits can be most directly influenced by genetic selection, reproductive performance is overwhelmingly influenced by management. Increasing the profitability of a ranch operation therefore relies very heavily on adjusting management practices to improve reproductive efficiency, especially one aspect—calf survival. The aims of this paper are to highlight the factors that commonly affect calf health and survival, identify the management practices that influence them, and evaluate how effectively we institute these practices at present. There is considerable information available about management factors that improve calf survival, but much of it is not being employed.