Keeping baby calves healthy right from the start is the secret of a good dairy herd later on. Individual hutches keep the babies clean, shaded and free from social problems such as ear sucking, scour cross contamination and pneumonia. Baby calves don't move much the first month or two of their lives, so the space is plenty adequate. Then we move them to larger pens and start the socializing. A complete ration from NUTRENA, supplements their diet of fresh milk fed twice daily.

After the babies leave the individual housing, they're put together in a larger pen to begin their socializing and continued growth. Simple and safe lock stantions allow us to handle the calves (vaccinations, ear treatments and more) It gets them used to them right from the start. These calves here wait for their morning feeding of Nutrena's Calf Grower.

A good front-end loader and Mixer Feeder make preparing meals on the dairy easier. Blending rations keeps the feeding well distributed among the animals, and built-in scales lets you put the exact amounts into a TMR (Total mixed ration) This takes the guess work out of feeding, maximizes production and minimizes waste and 'picking'.

Alfalfa taken young from the field and packed in a pit provide forage for the dairy. Plastic covering preserves and prevents spoilage. Good quality forage is the key, and blending NUTRENAS complete mineral and protein pellet balances the diet. Consistancy and quality keep livestock growth and milk production at high peak.

From left to right...Lyle Johnson, Brett Sorensen, Gavin Sorensen and Aaron Sorensen. Working together as a family is unique, rewarding and challenging. Each guy has his job. Pulling together as family, and working with sound farming principles keeps us on our toes. The family together milk and manage 750 dairy cows in Fallon Nevada.

It's all in the bag. Here at the dairy we start our heifer calves on NUTRENA calf starter. They don't eat much so what you give them has to be the best. The starter helps the heifer develop rumen capacity. That produces more milk down the road. Here at Cottonwood we don't cut corners. It cost too much later on. So we stick to a sound nutrition program right from the start, and it pulls us through.