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Introduction 

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Dairy heifer replacement breeding is an important area in any dairy farm enterprise, but it is often neglected as other more pressing issues take priority on the farm. This means that dairy heifers do not grow at the required rate to hit the expected targets at bulling and calving. The end result is that heifers calve in too old and without the required development to ensure they have long and productive lives in the herd. The hidden cost of this to the dairy enterprise is approximately 3.5ppl across the productive life of the animal.

With a little effort, by producing a heifer rearing plan, then monitoring growth performance against settargets and taking corrective measures where necessary, this can reduce the cost by 1.5ppl or £15,000 on a 1 million litre production unit. This doesn’t have to be rocket scienceto achieve but it will have dramatic effects on the future profitability of the enterprise. 

In this guide we will outline the best plan from new born calf through to calving down for the first time with key milestones and targets along the way. There will also be othermanagement advice including grassland, animal health and housing along with the important feed plans.

Heifers are the future of the dairy herd and deserve to have a specialistrearing programme that incorporates all the latest research and management advice. Undoubtedly,they will repay the investment through higher milk production and a longer productive life.

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