Monitoring the health and welfare of dairy youngstock. Part 1: a practical approach from birth to weaning

Background : Early life performance in heifer calves has a pivotal role in determining long‐term productivity, health and overall efficiency within a dairy herd. A successful preweaning period ensures calves have not suffered from disease, have grown at the target daily liveweight gain and have sufficient rumen development. Failure to achieve this has an impact on the welfare, sustainability and profitability of the farm. Support of dairy clients in assessment and benchmarking all aspects of heifer performance is key to the expanding role of the cattle practitioner, in helping herds maximise their health, welfare and sustainability, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Aim of the article : This article demonstrates simple methods for using commonly recorded farm data, evidence‐based interpretation of key performance indicators and integration in real case‐based examples.