WEBVTT 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:15.060 Breaking free from the chains of the past Where 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:18.820 truth moves faster than a Holstein calf No law 00:00:18.820 --> 00:00:21.660 waiting on some printed page We're charting new 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:25.300 ground in the digital age From genomic codes 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:29.120 to robot facts We cut through the noise, no hold 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:32.460 them back not your daddy's dairy news tonight 00:00:32.460 --> 00:01:03.390 we're sparking Welcome back to the Bullvine Podcast, 00:01:03.630 --> 00:01:06.069 where we cut through dairy industry noise to 00:01:06.069 --> 00:01:08.390 get you the insights that actually matter for 00:01:08.390 --> 00:01:11.569 your operation. And today, we're diving deep 00:01:11.569 --> 00:01:13.810 into a feature piece about the actual physics 00:01:13.810 --> 00:01:16.890 and economics of pair housing your dairy calves. 00:01:17.129 --> 00:01:20.409 Yeah, and we're pulling from a massive stack 00:01:20.409 --> 00:01:22.709 of sources today to really do this right. I mean, 00:01:22.750 --> 00:01:25.590 we've got a 2024 Journal of Dairy Science paper, 00:01:25.829 --> 00:01:29.510 a 2025 Scoping Review from Frontiers in Veterinary 00:01:29.510 --> 00:01:31.870 Science, and just this really extensive field 00:01:31.870 --> 00:01:34.209 data from both the university of british columbia 00:01:34.209 --> 00:01:36.790 and the university of florida right so the mission 00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:39.650 of this deep dive is to figure out if breaking 00:01:39.650 --> 00:01:42.609 the golden rule of calf rearing you know the 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:45.390 individual hutch if that is actually the secret 00:01:45.390 --> 00:01:48.310 to saving your farm 10 grand a year all while 00:01:48.310 --> 00:01:50.590 making your house better competitors at the feed 00:01:50.590 --> 00:01:52.909 bunk which i mean let's be honest it sounds completely 00:01:52.909 --> 00:01:54.709 backwards to anyone who has spent their entire 00:01:54.709 --> 00:01:57.109 life raising calves oh totally but before we 00:01:57.109 --> 00:02:00.540 get to the how and the why of you know Actually 00:02:00.540 --> 00:02:02.280 tearing down the walls between your hutches. 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:05.140 We really need to talk about why we are even 00:02:05.140 --> 00:02:07.599 having this conversation right now. Because if 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:09.259 you are listening to this on the tractor right 00:02:09.259 --> 00:02:11.659 now, you already feel the massive squeeze on 00:02:11.659 --> 00:02:13.659 replacements. Right. You feel it in your wallet. 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:17.759 Exactly. But hearing the actual national context, 00:02:17.979 --> 00:02:20.919 it really puts a chill down your spine. According 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:24.759 to the USDA's January 2025 cattle report, the 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:28.599 total heifer inventory is sitting at 3 .914 million 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:32.340 head. Let me just put that 3 .914 million number 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:34.560 into a historical perspective for you for a second. 00:02:34.740 --> 00:02:37.340 That is the lowest that specific inventory number 00:02:37.340 --> 00:02:41.300 has been since 1978. Wow. 1978. Jimmy Carter 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:43.199 was in the White House in 1978. You're talking 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:45.620 about a generational low here. I mean, most of 00:02:45.620 --> 00:02:47.539 the people managing your calf barns today weren't 00:02:47.539 --> 00:02:50.340 even born the last time we had this few replacement 00:02:50.340 --> 00:02:51.979 heifers in the national pipeline. Yeah. And if 00:02:51.979 --> 00:02:54.780 you think we are just, you know, at the bottom 00:02:54.780 --> 00:02:56.939 of a normal cycle and things will naturally bounce 00:02:56.939 --> 00:02:59.490 back by the fall, think again. Because the projections 00:02:59.490 --> 00:03:01.509 coming out of CoBank show that this number is 00:03:01.509 --> 00:03:03.310 going to drop even further. Right. There's no 00:03:03.310 --> 00:03:06.449 quick fix. No, not at all. We are not looking 00:03:06.449 --> 00:03:09.270 at any sort of structural recovery starting until 00:03:09.270 --> 00:03:13.569 maybe 2027. We are in a deep, deep structural 00:03:13.569 --> 00:03:16.469 deficit. And because of that deficit, the stakes 00:03:16.469 --> 00:03:19.030 for your dairy operation have literally never 00:03:19.030 --> 00:03:21.889 been higher. Let's talk about the cold, hard 00:03:21.889 --> 00:03:24.449 cash value of the animals sitting in your hutches 00:03:24.449 --> 00:03:27.289 this morning. Because replacement prices... are 00:03:27.289 --> 00:03:29.509 absolutely astronomical right now. Oh, they're 00:03:29.509 --> 00:03:31.629 painful. If you look at average Holsteins, just 00:03:31.629 --> 00:03:33.550 your standard middle -of -the -road heifers, 00:03:33.710 --> 00:03:36.669 they are commanding around $3 ,300 per head. 00:03:37.030 --> 00:03:39.729 And if your operation is dealing in premium strings, 00:03:40.110 --> 00:03:42.129 you know, the ones confirmed with sex semen, 00:03:42.250 --> 00:03:44.909 you are seeing them clear $4 ,000 in markets 00:03:44.909 --> 00:03:46.870 like the upper Midwest. Think about what that 00:03:46.870 --> 00:03:49.530 means for your daily routine, though. Every single 00:03:49.530 --> 00:03:52.030 wet calf that hits the ground on your dairy is 00:03:52.030 --> 00:03:54.050 worth more today than at any point in the last 00:03:54.050 --> 00:03:56.819 two decades. The math has entirely shifted beneath 00:03:56.819 --> 00:03:59.939 our feet. A dead calf isn't just a, you know, 00:03:59.939 --> 00:04:02.860 a frustrating loss anymore. It is a massive financial 00:04:02.860 --> 00:04:05.900 blow. You simply cannot afford to lose them. 00:04:05.979 --> 00:04:08.900 And maybe more importantly, you can't afford 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:11.159 for them to underperform two years from now when 00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:13.419 they finally hit your milking string. Which brings 00:04:13.419 --> 00:04:17.399 us to the ultimate contrarian pivot we are unpacking 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:20.839 today. We are talking about ditching the individual 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:23.740 calf hutch. I can hear the collective gasp from 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:26.300 here. Right, I know. The individual hutch has 00:04:26.300 --> 00:04:29.019 been the holy grail of dairy biosecurity for 00:04:29.019 --> 00:04:32.040 generations. But the data we are digging into 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:34.779 today comes from a physicist -turned -dairy researcher 00:04:34.779 --> 00:04:37.500 who has proven that keeping calves in pairs can 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:42.279 save a 300 -cow dairy $9 ,900 a year while actually 00:04:42.279 --> 00:04:44.259 improving their welfare. Okay, I am going to 00:04:44.259 --> 00:04:46.199 play the skeptic here. Because when you first 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:48.139 slid this article across the table to me, my 00:04:48.139 --> 00:04:50.759 immediate reaction was a physicist. What does 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:52.819 someone who spent their college years studying 00:04:52.819 --> 00:04:55.379 quantum mechanics know about scraping out a calf 00:04:55.379 --> 00:04:57.439 hutch at five in the morning? I knew you were 00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:59.339 going to say that. I mean, it sounds like the 00:04:59.339 --> 00:05:01.759 absolute classic disconnect between academic 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:05.779 theory and farm level reality. Usually the research 00:05:05.779 --> 00:05:08.199 we see on calves stops the day they are weaned. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.480 We measure their starter intake. We put them 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.399 on a scale for their weaning weight and we call 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:15.000 it a day. If they hit the target, wait, we slap 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.199 ourselves on the back. But stopping the clock 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:20.800 at weaning creates a massive blind spot for farmers 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:23.279 regarding long -term behavioral development. 00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:26.860 Let me introduce you to the researcher, Emily 00:05:26.860 --> 00:05:29.800 Miller -Kushin, because... Her unconventional 00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:32.459 path is actually the key to why this research 00:05:32.459 --> 00:05:34.819 is so disruptive. Okay, let's hear it. She grew 00:05:34.819 --> 00:05:37.100 up in rural Ontario, surrounded by agriculture, 00:05:37.399 --> 00:05:39.759 but she went to the University of Waterloo for 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:42.339 a highly rigorous physics and mathematical physics 00:05:42.339 --> 00:05:45.199 program. And Waterloo is not a joke. It is one 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:47.839 of the top STEM schools in North America. She 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:50.920 was doing intense abstract math, but by her senior 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:53.470 year, she hit a wall. Let me guess, she couldn't 00:05:53.470 --> 00:05:55.829 see how calculating the velocity of a subatomic 00:05:55.829 --> 00:05:58.490 particle helped anyone in the real world. You 00:05:58.490 --> 00:06:01.050 nailed it. She couldn't connect the abstract 00:06:01.050 --> 00:06:03.389 physics to the tangible things she actually cared 00:06:03.389 --> 00:06:06.230 about. So the summer before her final year, she 00:06:06.230 --> 00:06:08.689 assisted with some animal science research. Her 00:06:08.689 --> 00:06:11.410 mentor saw how lit up she was by the farm nata, 00:06:11.430 --> 00:06:13.810 way more engaged than she was with the physics, 00:06:13.990 --> 00:06:16.589 and suggested she make a hard pivot. So she just 00:06:16.589 --> 00:06:19.329 walked away from physics? Entirely. She entered 00:06:19.329 --> 00:06:21.589 a doctoral program in animal science at the University 00:06:21.589 --> 00:06:23.949 of Gulf, studying under Trevor DeVries at their 00:06:23.949 --> 00:06:26.550 animal welfare center, finished her PhD, and 00:06:26.550 --> 00:06:29.490 now runs an incredibly influential calf welfare 00:06:29.490 --> 00:06:31.769 program at the University of Florida. Look, I 00:06:31.769 --> 00:06:34.089 hear the backstory, and it's a great human interest 00:06:34.089 --> 00:06:37.430 piece. But if I am a producer listening to this 00:06:37.430 --> 00:06:40.779 while mixing a batch of milk replacer... My healthy 00:06:40.779 --> 00:06:43.240 skepticism is still flashing bright red. Sure. 00:06:43.379 --> 00:06:46.019 We have veterinarians, we have lifers who have 00:06:46.019 --> 00:06:48.339 studied ruminant digestion for 40 years. Why 00:06:48.339 --> 00:06:51.040 should I redesign my entire housing setup based 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:52.600 on someone who started out looking at physics 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:55.290 equations? I expected you to push back on that, 00:06:55.410 --> 00:06:58.069 but consider how a physicist actually processes 00:06:58.069 --> 00:07:01.470 information. She brought her entire physics toolkit 00:07:01.470 --> 00:07:04.430 with her to the dairy barn. She brought intense 00:07:04.430 --> 00:07:07.129 statistical rigor. She brought a deep comfort 00:07:07.129 --> 00:07:09.550 with massive long -term data sets that would 00:07:09.550 --> 00:07:12.410 make most people's eyes just glaze over. Right. 00:07:12.470 --> 00:07:15.370 She likes the math. In physics, you are trained 00:07:15.370 --> 00:07:18.430 from day one to question deeply held baseline 00:07:18.430 --> 00:07:21.420 assumptions. You never accept that something 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:23.860 works just because that is how we have always 00:07:23.860 --> 00:07:27.100 done it. You test the baseline. That habit of 00:07:27.100 --> 00:07:29.160 questioning the unwritten rules of the dairy 00:07:29.160 --> 00:07:32.100 industry is exactly what calf research was starving 00:07:32.100 --> 00:07:35.459 for. I will give you that. If there is one fatal 00:07:35.459 --> 00:07:38.139 flaw in this industry, it is doing things a certain 00:07:38.139 --> 00:07:40.600 way because grandpa poured the concrete that 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:42.699 way and his dad built the barn that way. The 00:07:42.699 --> 00:07:45.040 individual calf hutch is the ultimate sacred 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.819 cow. We just accepted his gospel because we are 00:07:47.819 --> 00:07:50.740 terrified of the alternative. Well, the broader 00:07:50.740 --> 00:07:52.980 scientific community is certainly not terrified 00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:55.379 of her alternative. We need to validate the weight 00:07:55.379 --> 00:07:56.879 of her research before we get into the numbers. 00:07:57.100 --> 00:07:59.240 Because she didn't just publish a neat little 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:02.100 paper in a fringe journal. She was awarded the 00:08:02.100 --> 00:08:07.060 2025 PCAS. PCAS. For those outside the D .C. 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:09.019 grant bubble, that stands for the Presidential 00:08:09.019 --> 00:08:11.699 Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:14.939 It is the highest U .S. government award given 00:08:14.939 --> 00:08:17.500 to early career researchers across all scientific 00:08:17.500 --> 00:08:19.420 disciplines. Wait, so the federal government 00:08:19.420 --> 00:08:21.420 looked at every young scientist in the country 00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:24.100 across medicine, engineering, all of it, and 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:26.399 said her work on dairy calves was among the most 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:28.959 groundbreaking. Yes. And on top of that, she 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:32.220 won the 2025 ADSA Foundation Scholar Award in 00:08:32.220 --> 00:08:34.600 Dairy Production. So the data she is bringing 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:36.820 to your farm isn't just a theory. It is award 00:08:36.820 --> 00:08:39.639 -winning, rigorously vetted science that is shifting 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:42.279 paradigms at the highest possible levels. Alright, 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:45.620 you have built the credibility. Let's get into 00:08:45.620 --> 00:08:48.700 the mud. We need an industry reality check here, 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:52.120 because the deeply ingrained belief, the absolute 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:54.759 everyone -knows -this fact of dairy farming, 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:57.779 is that individual hutches are the only barrier 00:08:57.779 --> 00:09:00.779 standing between your calves and a total respiratory 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:03.639 disaster. Right, the old dogma. The old logic 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:05.340 dictates that if you put two calves together, 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:07.519 they're going to suck on each other's navels, 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:10.240 they're going to share scours, and one is absolutely 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:12.019 going to give the other pneumonia. And Miller 00:09:12.019 --> 00:09:14.320 Christian's team took that exact narrative and 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:16.559 put it under a microscope. Let's look at her 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:20.000 five -year study funded by USDA NIFA, which ran 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.519 from 2020 through 2025. What makes this study 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:26.179 almost unheard of is the timeline. She tracked 00:09:26.179 --> 00:09:28.600 these specific calves from birth all the way 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:30.679 through their second lactation. Which requires 00:09:30.679 --> 00:09:33.080 an insane amount of funding and patience. Like 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:34.980 we said earlier, most researchers pack up their 00:09:34.980 --> 00:09:37.500 clipboards at day 60. Tracking an animal into 00:09:37.500 --> 00:09:39.659 a second lactation means she is measuring how 00:09:39.659 --> 00:09:42.100 a housing decision you made on day two of a calf's 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:44.840 life impacts an adult cow competing in the milking 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:47.200 string three years later. Which is huge. That 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:49.200 is the only metric a farmer actually cares about. 00:09:49.549 --> 00:09:51.769 We don't raise calves just to take cute pictures 00:09:51.769 --> 00:09:54.450 of them. We raise them to become highly profitable, 00:09:54.669 --> 00:09:56.970 durable cows. Well, the behavioral breakthrough 00:09:56.970 --> 00:09:59.370 that came out of this five -year tracking, which 00:09:59.370 --> 00:10:02.009 was published in the 2024 Journal of Dairy Science 00:10:02.009 --> 00:10:05.509 paper, is fascinating. They tracked Holstein 00:10:05.509 --> 00:10:08.590 heifers raised in pairs versus those raised individually. 00:10:09.610 --> 00:10:12.529 Then they observed their behavior during a social 00:10:12.529 --> 00:10:14.590 regrouping and a housing transition when they 00:10:14.590 --> 00:10:16.950 were pregnant heifers. They specifically looked 00:10:16.950 --> 00:10:19.110 at how these animals reacted under competitive 00:10:19.110 --> 00:10:21.450 pressure. Let's translate competitive pressure 00:10:21.450 --> 00:10:24.370 into plain farmer English for a second. We're 00:10:24.370 --> 00:10:26.610 talking about that brutal moment when a fresh 00:10:26.610 --> 00:10:29.149 two -year -old heifer gets dropped into a pen 00:10:29.149 --> 00:10:33.500 with older, mature boss cows. It's intimidating. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:35.960 Oh, it's a war zone. The bunk space is tight, 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:37.639 the older cows are throwing their heads around, 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:39.559 and that young heifer has to figure out how to 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:41.940 get her head through the headlocks and eat without 00:10:41.940 --> 00:10:44.200 getting bullied out of the way. What do the numbers 00:10:44.200 --> 00:10:46.360 actually show? The pair -housed animals spent 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:50.259 4 .2 more minutes per hour feeding. But the metric 00:10:50.259 --> 00:10:52.039 that really jumps off the page is their feed 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:55.100 bunk visits. The pair -housed heifers visited 00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:58.379 the feed bunk 1 .5 times per hour. The individually 00:10:58.379 --> 00:11:01.539 raised heifers, only 0 .8 times per hour. That's 00:11:01.539 --> 00:11:04.470 nearly double. Exactly. The heifers that grew 00:11:04.470 --> 00:11:06.549 up with a roommate were visiting the bunk nearly 00:11:06.549 --> 00:11:09.470 twice as often under the exact same competitive 00:11:09.470 --> 00:11:12.250 pressure. Let me stop you right there, because 00:11:12.250 --> 00:11:14.350 if you are milking cows right now, this is your 00:11:14.350 --> 00:11:17.649 aha moment. If you have a heifer that is willing 00:11:17.649 --> 00:11:20.190 to fight for bunk space, a heifer that marches 00:11:20.190 --> 00:11:22.529 up to the feed 1 .5 times an hour instead of 00:11:22.529 --> 00:11:24.850 hiding in the back of the free stalls, she is 00:11:24.850 --> 00:11:27.190 consuming significantly more dry matter. And 00:11:27.190 --> 00:11:30.389 dry matter intake is the absolute engine of milk 00:11:30.389 --> 00:11:32.909 production, period. If she doesn't eat, she doesn't 00:11:32.909 --> 00:11:35.090 milk. What this data says is that whether she 00:11:35.090 --> 00:11:37.629 fights for that TMR or backs down to a boss cow 00:11:37.629 --> 00:11:40.750 was hardwired into her brain by whether she had 00:11:40.750 --> 00:11:43.210 a buddy in her hutch two years prior. The study 00:11:43.210 --> 00:11:45.970 concluded that pre -weaning social housing establishes 00:11:45.970 --> 00:11:48.649 long -term effects on behavior and the ability 00:11:48.649 --> 00:11:52.110 to adapt to novel environments. It all comes 00:11:52.110 --> 00:11:55.480 down to social learning. Calves learn to eat 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:58.460 by watching their pen mates. We severely underestimate 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:01.100 the role of the social environment, but calves 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:03.600 develop preferences for feeds that others in 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:05.720 their group are eating. Which makes sense. They 00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:08.059 learn how to interact, how to yield, and how 00:12:08.059 --> 00:12:10.519 to assert themselves way before they ever see 00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:13.639 a freestall barn. If they are in a solitary hutch, 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:16.480 they never learn a single social eating cue. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:18.700 It makes total sense if you step back from the 00:12:18.700 --> 00:12:21.340 farm. If you raise a kid in an isolated room 00:12:21.340 --> 00:12:23.620 for years and then suddenly drop them into a 00:12:23.620 --> 00:12:26.149 chaotic high school cafeteria. they are going 00:12:26.149 --> 00:12:28.610 to be terrified. They won't know how to navigate 00:12:28.610 --> 00:12:30.549 the social dynamics to get their lunch tray. 00:12:30.669 --> 00:12:32.990 That's a perfect analogy. We're doing the exact 00:12:32.990 --> 00:12:35.409 same thing to our heifers. We put them in solitary 00:12:35.409 --> 00:12:37.429 confinement, and then we stand around scratching 00:12:37.429 --> 00:12:39.570 our heads when they act timid at the bunk as 00:12:39.570 --> 00:12:41.789 fresh cows. And Miller Fission pointed out in 00:12:41.789 --> 00:12:43.929 a recent interview that pair -housed calves actually 00:12:43.929 --> 00:12:46.830 eat more solid feed earlier in life precisely 00:12:46.830 --> 00:12:49.470 because of this social learning. They figure 00:12:49.470 --> 00:12:52.830 the grain bucket out together. But... But I can 00:12:52.830 --> 00:12:54.950 hear you winding up to ask the obvious question 00:12:54.950 --> 00:12:58.210 here. You are thinking about the BRD myth, the 00:12:58.210 --> 00:13:00.950 bovine respiratory disease fear. Oh, absolutely 00:13:00.950 --> 00:13:03.610 I am. Because that is the very first piece of 00:13:03.610 --> 00:13:05.870 pushback you will get from any herd manager. 00:13:06.169 --> 00:13:08.429 Sure, they might be bolder at the bunk two years 00:13:08.429 --> 00:13:10.669 from now. But if they die of pneumonia at three 00:13:10.669 --> 00:13:12.809 weeks old, they're going to make it to the milking 00:13:12.809 --> 00:13:15.409 string to show off that boldness. Right. We have 00:13:15.409 --> 00:13:17.450 been preached to for decades that shared airspace 00:13:17.450 --> 00:13:20.350 in a hutch equals shared respiratory bugs. End 00:13:20.350 --> 00:13:23.919 of story. Let's look at the 2025 scoping review 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:26.039 published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:29.019 to address that head on. This review aggregated 00:13:29.019 --> 00:13:31.980 pair housing studies published since 2016. They 00:13:31.980 --> 00:13:34.299 look specifically at the health outcomes. Out 00:13:34.299 --> 00:13:36.799 of seven specific BRD studies that they reviewed, 00:13:36.940 --> 00:13:39.080 take a guess at how many showed an association 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:41.299 between pair housing and increased respiratory 00:13:41.299 --> 00:13:44.320 disease. Well, knowing how these deep dives go, 00:13:44.500 --> 00:13:47.080 I'm going to guess the number is shockingly low. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:51.039 One, two, zero, zero. Out of the seven studies 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:54.700 reviewed, exactly seven showed NO association 00:13:54.700 --> 00:13:58.159 between pair housing and an increase in respiratory 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:00.639 disease. And I want to make this crystal clear 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:03.659 to you listening right now. This is not cherry 00:14:03.659 --> 00:14:05.980 -picked data to support a narrative. That was 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:08.960 the entirety of the BRD data they examined in 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:11.090 that review. We were talking about studies from 00:14:11.090 --> 00:14:13.889 UC Davis, UW -Madison, the University of Florida, 00:14:14.029 --> 00:14:17.029 UBC, across the board. Social housing, specifically 00:14:17.029 --> 00:14:19.870 pair housing, did not increase BRD incidents. 00:14:20.289 --> 00:14:22.090 I am having a hard time wrapping my head around 00:14:22.090 --> 00:14:24.370 that because it is a massive paradigm shift. 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:25.970 If you were telling me that putting two calves 00:14:25.970 --> 00:14:27.870 together doesn't actually spike my pneumonia 00:14:27.870 --> 00:14:30.309 rates, then the primary foundational argument 00:14:30.309 --> 00:14:32.129 for keeping them isolated completely crumbles. 00:14:32.309 --> 00:14:34.649 It really does. But here's the thing. Farmers 00:14:34.649 --> 00:14:36.610 don't buy reciprocating saws and start cutting 00:14:36.610 --> 00:14:38.809 walls out of their hutches just because a paper 00:14:38.809 --> 00:14:41.190 says it improves welfare. They change their setups 00:14:41.190 --> 00:14:43.250 when the math demands it. If they're equally 00:14:43.250 --> 00:14:45.870 healthy, where is the cash? Let's follow the 00:14:45.870 --> 00:14:48.830 money and break down that $9 ,900 advantage we 00:14:48.830 --> 00:14:51.009 teased at the start, tailored specifically for 00:14:51.009 --> 00:14:53.629 a standard three -numbered cow dairy. To anchor 00:14:53.629 --> 00:14:55.850 the math, we need to look at national pre -weaned 00:14:55.850 --> 00:14:59.710 mortality rates. Okay, way out. The 2014 NAHMS 00:14:59.710 --> 00:15:02.350 data, which is the National Animal Health Monitoring 00:15:02.350 --> 00:15:04.590 System, the gold standard for USDA benchmarks, 00:15:05.070 --> 00:15:08.409 put national pre -weaned mortality around 5 .0%. 00:15:08.409 --> 00:15:11.669 A new NAHMS study is pending, but let's be realistic 00:15:11.669 --> 00:15:13.990 about what is happening on the ground. Many commercial 00:15:13.990 --> 00:15:17.389 farms are running closer to 6%. Sadly, 6 % is 00:15:17.389 --> 00:15:20.389 very common. When you factor in the brutal winter 00:15:20.389 --> 00:15:23.509 cold snaps, unpredictable scours outbreaks, and 00:15:23.509 --> 00:15:25.570 the sheer labor shortage, meaning your calf feeders 00:15:25.570 --> 00:15:27.710 have less time to observe each individual animal, 00:15:27.970 --> 00:15:31.529 6 % happens fast. It does. So on a 300 -cow dairy, 00:15:31.769 --> 00:15:34.389 assuming you are calving relatively evenly year 00:15:34.389 --> 00:15:37.350 -round, a 6 % pre -weaned mortality rate on your 00:15:37.350 --> 00:15:39.870 heifer crop means you are hauling about 9 dead 00:15:39.870 --> 00:15:42.500 heifer calves to the compost pile a year. Let's 00:15:42.500 --> 00:15:44.600 tie those nine dead heifers back to the replacement 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:46.720 costs we established earlier. With an average 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:49.120 Holstein replacement sitting at $3 ,300 right 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:51.379 now, those nine calves represent between $25 00:15:51.379 --> 00:15:54.740 ,000 and $36 ,000 in lost inventory value. That 00:15:54.740 --> 00:15:56.799 hurts to think about. And keep in mind, that 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.940 is just the raw, unrealized replacement value. 00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:02.419 That doesn't even begin to calculate the sum 00:16:02.419 --> 00:16:04.700 costs of the milk replacer you already fed them, 00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:07.240 the vet bills and electrolytes you pumped into 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:09.679 them trying to save them, or the labor hours 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:12.759 your team wasted. It is a staggering leak in 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:14.679 farm profitability when you look at it annually. 00:16:15.019 --> 00:16:17.799 But you just told me the BRD rates are the same, 00:16:17.860 --> 00:16:21.100 not necessarily lower. So how does pair housing 00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:23.820 actually fix that leak and save us money? The 00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:26.059 literature shows that while BRD might remain 00:16:26.059 --> 00:16:28.639 neutral. Pear housing improves overall health 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:31.700 resilience and reduces other major issues. Miller 00:16:31.700 --> 00:16:34.840 Christian's own 2021 JDS work found a tendency 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.700 for reduced scours in pear -housed calves. Interesting. 00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:40.259 Less scours. When calves are less stressed, when 00:16:40.259 --> 00:16:42.120 they learn to eat solid feed earlier because 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.059 of that social learning we discussed, their immune 00:16:44.059 --> 00:16:46.740 systems are fundamentally better supported. The 00:16:46.740 --> 00:16:48.740 aggregated data suggests that if a farm switches 00:16:48.740 --> 00:16:51.039 to pear housing, they can conservatively drop 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:54.159 that overall mortality rate from 6 % down to 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:56.570 4%. Okay, let's run that through the calculator. 00:16:56.830 --> 00:17:01.009 Dropping from 6 % to 4 % mortality on a 300 -cow 00:17:01.009 --> 00:17:04.809 dairy saves you three hyper calves a year. Multiply 00:17:04.809 --> 00:17:07.869 those three saved calves by that $3 ,300 average 00:17:07.869 --> 00:17:11.789 replacement cost, and it equals exactly $9 ,900 00:17:11.789 --> 00:17:15.589 saved annually, just in retained inventory. You 00:17:15.589 --> 00:17:18.190 are putting almost $10 ,000 back into your operations 00:17:18.190 --> 00:17:21.269 equity just by letting two calves share a space. 00:17:21.869 --> 00:17:23.930 To a farmer writing checks, that is incredibly 00:17:23.930 --> 00:17:26.730 tangible. Ten grand pays for a mountain of milk 00:17:26.730 --> 00:17:29.009 replacer or a couple months of your calf feeder 00:17:29.009 --> 00:17:31.890 salary. But there is also a growth velocity aspect 00:17:31.890 --> 00:17:33.589 to this, right? It's not just about minimizing 00:17:33.589 --> 00:17:36.069 death loss. It's about how fast and efficiently 00:17:36.069 --> 00:17:38.329 they grow before you wean them. The weight gain 00:17:38.329 --> 00:17:41.150 bonus is undeniable. Research out of the University 00:17:41.150 --> 00:17:43.609 of British Columbia published in 2023 isolated 00:17:43.609 --> 00:17:46.069 this specific metric. They found that pair -housed 00:17:46.069 --> 00:17:48.450 calves averaged an advantage of 130 grams per 00:17:48.450 --> 00:17:50.849 day in weight gain pre -weaning compared to individually 00:17:50.849 --> 00:17:53.230 housed calves. And this has been a consistent 00:17:53.230 --> 00:17:55.650 finding across multiple massive Canadian studies. 00:17:55.950 --> 00:17:58.869 To someone sitting in an office. 130 grams a 00:17:58.869 --> 00:18:01.690 day might sound like rounding error, but let's 00:18:01.690 --> 00:18:04.549 look at a 60 -day weaning period. That compounds 00:18:04.549 --> 00:18:07.950 into nearly 17 extra pounds at weaning. That's 00:18:07.950 --> 00:18:10.569 a huge difference on a calf. A bigger, heavier 00:18:10.569 --> 00:18:13.849 calf with a more developed skeletal frame transitions 00:18:13.849 --> 00:18:16.769 off milk better, reaches breeding weight earlier, 00:18:16.910 --> 00:18:19.309 and ultimately calves in as a larger, more competitive 00:18:19.309 --> 00:18:22.470 animal. What did Miller Cushion's Florida study 00:18:22.470 --> 00:18:25.670 show regarding this growth? Her 2025 study at 00:18:25.670 --> 00:18:28.490 UF was a massive undertaking. They looked at 00:18:28.490 --> 00:18:32.130 100 pens, 50 individual versus 50 paired, and 00:18:32.130 --> 00:18:34.910 showed clear, statistically significant performance 00:18:34.910 --> 00:18:37.490 benefits from pair housing right from birth. 00:18:37.950 --> 00:18:40.289 But the most fascinating variable they uncovered 00:18:40.289 --> 00:18:42.829 was that these advantages were particularly strong 00:18:42.829 --> 00:18:44.849 during the cooler months. Which paints a very 00:18:44.849 --> 00:18:47.099 vivid picture. Picture your farm in February. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:49.599 The wind is howling and the temperature is sitting 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:52.839 at minus 10 degrees. An isolated cack in a single 00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:55.920 plastic hutch is shivering, burning every single 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:58.420 calorie of that expensive milk replacer just 00:18:58.420 --> 00:19:00.240 to keep her core temperature high enough to keep 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:01.619 her heart beating. It's all going to maintenance. 00:19:02.039 --> 00:19:05.400 Exactly. But she has a buddy. They cuddle up 00:19:05.400 --> 00:19:07.759 like a pile of puppies in the deep straw. They 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:09.539 share body heat, they keep their core temperatures 00:19:09.539 --> 00:19:12.160 up naturally, and those calories from the milk 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:14.720 replacer actually go towards skeletal growth 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:17.799 instead of just basic survival. The physiological 00:19:17.799 --> 00:19:20.960 math works beautifully, but as a practical dairyman, 00:19:21.140 --> 00:19:23.220 I know you still have logistical nightmares running 00:19:23.220 --> 00:19:25.740 through your head. Let's pivot to case studies 00:19:25.740 --> 00:19:28.059 and actual implementation on the farm, because 00:19:28.059 --> 00:19:30.500 the theory only matters if you can execute it. 00:19:30.700 --> 00:19:33.500 Let's tackle the biggest, ugliest practical fear 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:37.319 first. Solving the cross -sucking problem. We 00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:39.099 acknowledged it earlier, but we need to dive 00:19:39.099 --> 00:19:42.509 deep into it. Farmers are terrified of cross 00:19:42.509 --> 00:19:45.269 -sucking. It's gross. If you have ever walked 00:19:45.269 --> 00:19:47.589 a pen of recently weaned heifers and seen them 00:19:47.589 --> 00:19:49.970 grouped up, aggressively sucking on each other's 00:19:49.970 --> 00:19:52.509 ears, navels, or developing teats, it drives 00:19:52.509 --> 00:19:54.730 you absolutely crazy. We put them in individual 00:19:54.730 --> 00:19:57.190 hutches specifically to stop that oral fixation 00:19:57.190 --> 00:20:00.029 from ruining, developing utter tissue, or causing 00:20:00.029 --> 00:20:02.329 blind quarters down the road. Miller -Kishen's 00:20:02.329 --> 00:20:05.369 data gives us a surprisingly simple, almost shockingly 00:20:05.369 --> 00:20:08.410 low -tech fix for this. To completely reduce 00:20:08.410 --> 00:20:11.769 abnormal oral behaviors, especially around that 00:20:11.769 --> 00:20:14.069 high stress weaning period when the urge to suck 00:20:14.069 --> 00:20:16.509 is highest, all you have to do is provide hay 00:20:16.509 --> 00:20:19.329 from day one alongside their starter grain. Wait, 00:20:19.369 --> 00:20:22.130 hold on. Day one. We have been preached to for 00:20:22.130 --> 00:20:25.549 years by nutritionists not to give hay early 00:20:25.549 --> 00:20:29.900 on. The dogma is that hay takes up physical space 00:20:29.900 --> 00:20:32.339 in the rumen and prevents them from eating enough 00:20:32.339 --> 00:20:34.980 of the highly digestible starter grain they need 00:20:34.980 --> 00:20:38.259 to develop their rumen papillae. You were telling 00:20:38.259 --> 00:20:40.299 me to throw hay in there immediately. I know 00:20:40.299 --> 00:20:42.440 it goes against the old dogma, but her research... 00:20:42.619 --> 00:20:44.299 And the broader literature shows that providing 00:20:44.299 --> 00:20:46.180 hay from the time you introduce starter grain 00:20:46.180 --> 00:20:48.619 universally benefits the calves. It gives them 00:20:48.619 --> 00:20:51.200 a physical, natural outlet for that innate oral 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:53.579 foraging behavior. So they chew the hay instead 00:20:53.579 --> 00:20:55.259 of their roommate. Right. If they're chewing 00:20:55.259 --> 00:20:57.160 on long -stem hay, they are not chewing on their 00:20:57.160 --> 00:20:59.720 penmate's ear. The data consistently shows it 00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:02.319 drastically reduces cross -sucking. It is a low 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:05.019 -cost, incredibly effective intervention that 00:21:05.019 --> 00:21:07.920 solves your biggest fear. All right. I will concede 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:09.960 that a handful of hay is a cheap fix for the 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:12.529 cross -sucking. But let's talk about the facilities 00:21:12.529 --> 00:21:14.750 because I am not going to march into my loan 00:21:14.750 --> 00:21:16.769 officer's office and ask for a half million dollar 00:21:16.769 --> 00:21:19.470 line of credit to build a brand new state -of 00:21:19.470 --> 00:21:21.930 -the -art pair housing calf barn just because 00:21:21.930 --> 00:21:24.890 a physicist published a paper. My concrete pads 00:21:24.890 --> 00:21:27.690 are already poured and my white plastic hutches 00:21:27.690 --> 00:21:29.430 are sitting right there. You don't need a new 00:21:29.430 --> 00:21:31.930 barn and you don't need a loan. This is where 00:21:31.930 --> 00:21:34.309 Laura Whalen's commercial farm study at UBC is 00:21:34.309 --> 00:21:36.890 so critical. She proved that facility conversions 00:21:36.890 --> 00:21:39.130 can happen with the exact equipment you already 00:21:39.130 --> 00:21:41.690 own. The setup she used on commercial dairies 00:21:41.690 --> 00:21:45.009 was incredibly simple. She literally just pushed 00:21:45.009 --> 00:21:47.609 two standard individual hutches together and 00:21:47.609 --> 00:21:50.130 created a shared outdoor fence space in front 00:21:50.130 --> 00:21:52.150 of them. You are saying the massive infrastructure 00:21:52.150 --> 00:21:55.710 overhaul is just pushing two pieces of plastic 00:21:55.710 --> 00:21:58.170 side by side and wrapping one big wire panel 00:21:58.170 --> 00:22:00.549 around the front of both. That is literally it. 00:22:00.650 --> 00:22:04.430 Two calves, two hutches, one shared yard. The 00:22:04.430 --> 00:22:06.369 calves have the option to sleep in separate hutches 00:22:06.369 --> 00:22:08.190 if they want their space, or they can cuddle 00:22:08.190 --> 00:22:10.849 up in one together. Other operations have converted 00:22:10.849 --> 00:22:13.450 their existing super hutches just by taking a 00:22:13.450 --> 00:22:15.829 reciprocating saw and removing a shared plastic 00:22:15.829 --> 00:22:18.369 wall between two hutches placed end -to -end. 00:22:18.509 --> 00:22:21.269 That's brilliant. UW -Madison's Dairy Welfare 00:22:21.269 --> 00:22:23.730 Program actually published a step -by -step introduction 00:22:23.730 --> 00:22:26.529 guide for commercial farms, specifically designed 00:22:26.529 --> 00:22:29.150 for operations using existing individual hutches. 00:22:29.730 --> 00:22:32.849 The capital cost is basically zero. It is just 00:22:32.849 --> 00:22:35.150 the labor time required to rearrange your existing 00:22:35.150 --> 00:22:37.890 plastic. That completely removes the financial 00:22:37.890 --> 00:22:40.450 barrier to entry. If I don't have to pour new 00:22:40.450 --> 00:22:42.950 concrete or buy new steel, I can test this concept 00:22:42.950 --> 00:22:45.450 tomorrow morning. But I do have a major question 00:22:45.450 --> 00:22:47.869 about group size. If pairing two calves together 00:22:47.869 --> 00:22:50.269 is good, is throwing eight of them together better? 00:22:50.769 --> 00:22:53.210 What if I just take a giant super hutch and throw 00:22:53.210 --> 00:22:55.309 ten calves in it? You have to be very careful 00:22:55.309 --> 00:22:58.619 there. The data provides a golden rule of group 00:22:58.619 --> 00:23:02.160 size, and it is a hard boundary. Pair housing, 00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:05.059 exactly two calves, works beautifully. But the 00:23:05.059 --> 00:23:07.400 data shows that disease risk starts to climb 00:23:07.400 --> 00:23:10.420 significantly, almost exponentially, once you 00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:12.660 get above eight calves per pen. Which may sense. 00:23:12.839 --> 00:23:15.279 And this is especially true if you are running 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:18.019 a continuous flow system where you are constantly 00:23:18.019 --> 00:23:20.880 adding new wet calves to an older group. Because 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:23.259 when you do that, you are mixing completely different 00:23:23.259 --> 00:23:26.240 levels of immunity. The older calves are shedding 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:28.859 pathogens that the two -day -old calf has absolutely 00:23:28.859 --> 00:23:31.980 zero defense against. It's a recipe for a massive 00:23:31.980 --> 00:23:34.440 scours outbreak. To keep the biosecurity math 00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:36.640 manageable and safe, you need to stick strictly 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:39.400 to pairs, or at least... Very small, static groups 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:42.019 of similar ages where it is all in, all out. 00:23:42.220 --> 00:23:44.539 Pair housing gives you the behavioral and welfare 00:23:44.539 --> 00:23:47.019 benefits of social interaction without crossing 00:23:47.019 --> 00:23:49.460 that dangerous threshold into high disease transmission 00:23:49.460 --> 00:23:52.880 risk. Okay, we have the economic math, we have 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:54.660 the facility solution with the reciprocating 00:23:54.660 --> 00:23:56.799 saw, and we have the disease mitigation strategy. 00:23:57.160 --> 00:23:58.799 But I want to zoom out for a second and look 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:00.799 at the future implications and the regulatory 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:04.839 reality hitting our industry. It's coming. Even 00:24:04.839 --> 00:24:07.240 if a farmer is listening to this in his truck, 00:24:07.380 --> 00:24:09.839 stubbornly gripping the steering wheel and saying, 00:24:09.940 --> 00:24:12.960 I don't care about the 1 .5 bunk visits, my individual 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:15.900 hutches are fine. The industry is moving, whether 00:24:15.900 --> 00:24:18.319 U .S. producers like it or not. The global industry 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:20.480 is absolutely moving, and it is moving fast. 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:22.559 Let's look at the coming mandates internationally. 00:24:23.289 --> 00:24:25.890 Canada has a draft code of practice for the care 00:24:25.890 --> 00:24:28.390 and handling of dairy cattle. This isn't just 00:24:28.390 --> 00:24:31.430 a suggestion. This draft actually mandates that 00:24:31.430 --> 00:24:33.869 healthy calves must be housed in pairs or groups 00:24:33.869 --> 00:24:36.509 by two to four weeks of age. Mandatory. Yes, 00:24:36.529 --> 00:24:40.309 and that mandate becomes effective by 2031. 2031 00:24:40.309 --> 00:24:43.109 sounds far away to a civilian, but in farming 00:24:43.109 --> 00:24:45.009 years, that is right around the corner. That 00:24:45.009 --> 00:24:47.829 is barely two full heifer life cycles away. And 00:24:47.829 --> 00:24:50.009 it isn't just Canada driving this, right? The 00:24:50.009 --> 00:24:52.369 Netherlands is targeting an even more aggressive 00:24:52.369 --> 00:24:56.069 timeline of 2030 for similar pair or group housing 00:24:56.069 --> 00:24:59.230 requirements. The implication here for the American 00:24:59.230 --> 00:25:02.609 listener is massive. If your U .S. operation 00:25:02.609 --> 00:25:05.930 ships genetics, embryos, or dairy products that 00:25:05.930 --> 00:25:07.690 eventually end up in these international supply 00:25:07.690 --> 00:25:11.069 chains, and most major co -ops do, you are going 00:25:11.069 --> 00:25:13.089 to be forced to comply with these global standards. 00:25:13.410 --> 00:25:15.309 We all know exactly how this works domestically 00:25:15.309 --> 00:25:18.299 too. It starts in Europe or Canada. The multinational 00:25:18.299 --> 00:25:20.819 processors adopt it to protect their public image, 00:25:20.980 --> 00:25:22.779 and then they bring those standards right to 00:25:22.779 --> 00:25:25.420 our doorstep. Processor audits are already evolving. 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:28.180 The farm program, which basically dictates whether 00:25:28.180 --> 00:25:30.160 you even have a market to ship your milk in the 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:33.220 U .S., is increasingly looking at calf welfare 00:25:33.220 --> 00:25:36.339 metrics. And let me guess who is involved in 00:25:36.339 --> 00:25:38.500 that. Emily Miller Cushion was just appointed 00:25:38.500 --> 00:25:40.220 to their animal care committee. They're a very 00:25:40.220 --> 00:25:42.589 researcher who's... data we've been analyzing 00:25:42.589 --> 00:25:45.130 for the last hour. When the researcher who proved 00:25:45.130 --> 00:25:47.549 that pair housing is superior gets put on the 00:25:47.549 --> 00:25:50.390 committee that writes the processor audits, the 00:25:50.390 --> 00:25:53.450 writing is on the wall in permanent marker. The 00:25:53.450 --> 00:25:56.009 pipeline from interesting academic research to 00:25:56.009 --> 00:25:59.769 mandatory processor requirement. is getting incredibly 00:25:59.769 --> 00:26:03.069 short it is shrinking from decades down to just 00:26:03.069 --> 00:26:05.930 a few years it really is i will argue all day 00:26:05.930 --> 00:26:08.029 long that staying ahead of these mandates and 00:26:08.029 --> 00:26:11.690 adapting your farm now on your own terms is vastly 00:26:11.690 --> 00:26:14.309 cheaper and less stressful than scrambling to 00:26:14.309 --> 00:26:16.970 retrofit your barn when the dairy co -op field 00:26:16.970 --> 00:26:19.150 rep shows up with a clipboard and threatens to 00:26:19.150 --> 00:26:21.710 pull your milk contract adapting now allows you 00:26:21.710 --> 00:26:24.049 to figure out the labor flows the hutch placement 00:26:24.049 --> 00:26:26.670 and the feeding protocols without a gun to your 00:26:26.670 --> 00:26:28.880 head Which brings us to our contrarian takes 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:31.900 and action plans. Because there is a very strong, 00:26:32.039 --> 00:26:34.359 very vocal wait -and -watch narrative out there 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:36.920 among top producers. You hear guys saying, look, 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:39.660 my pre -wean mortality is already under 3%, I 00:26:39.660 --> 00:26:41.839 am a top -tier calf raiser, I don't need to change 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:43.700 my individual hutches because my calves simply 00:26:43.700 --> 00:26:45.859 aren't dying. I know plenty of herdsmen exactly 00:26:45.859 --> 00:26:49.279 like that. Their calf barns are immaculate. They 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:51.440 wash every bottle with hot water and acid, their 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:53.900 colostrum protocols are bulletproof, and their 00:26:53.900 --> 00:26:57.529 death loss is basically zero. It is really hard 00:26:57.529 --> 00:26:59.490 to look those guys in the eye and tell them to 00:26:59.490 --> 00:27:02.349 mess with success. The analytical pushback you 00:27:02.349 --> 00:27:04.130 have to give them is that they are only measuring 00:27:04.130 --> 00:27:07.849 success up to day 60. Yes, your mortality is 00:27:07.849 --> 00:27:11.269 under 3%. Congratulations. But what about your 00:27:11.269 --> 00:27:14.730 fresh heifer feed intake? Are they slow to compete 00:27:14.730 --> 00:27:17.170 at the bunk post calving? Are your two -year 00:27:17.170 --> 00:27:19.230 -olds lagging in their first lactation peaks 00:27:19.230 --> 00:27:22.960 compared to what your mature herd is doing? That 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:25.099 is the hidden bottleneck that nobody tracks back 00:27:25.099 --> 00:27:27.619 to the calf barn. A farmer might be blaming the 00:27:27.619 --> 00:27:29.799 genetic sire, or they are firing their nutritionist 00:27:29.799 --> 00:27:31.700 over the transition diet, or they are blaming 00:27:31.700 --> 00:27:34.279 overcrowding in the fresh pen. When in reality, 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:36.400 the housing environment from two years ago is 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:38.180 the hidden variable holding back those first 00:27:38.180 --> 00:27:40.680 lactation peaks. They simply don't have the behavioral 00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:43.299 resilience to fight a boss cow for their feed. 00:27:43.500 --> 00:27:45.880 We need to evaluate the options for testing this 00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:48.160 so a farm doesn't have to flip the whole operation 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:50.829 tomorrow. Let's look at the trade -offs of what 00:27:50.829 --> 00:27:54.009 we call the 30 -day test versus the 90 -day full 00:27:54.009 --> 00:27:57.029 transition. A full transition takes serious time 00:27:57.029 --> 00:27:59.170 and management bandwidth. You have to adjust 00:27:59.170 --> 00:28:01.769 your milk feeding schedules. If you are using 00:28:01.769 --> 00:28:04.410 automated calf feeders, it simplifies things 00:28:04.410 --> 00:28:06.490 considerably because the machine handles the 00:28:06.490 --> 00:28:08.930 volume. But if you are bottle feeding or bucket 00:28:08.930 --> 00:28:11.490 feeding out of a side -by -side, your staff has 00:28:11.490 --> 00:28:13.880 to be retrained. They have to monitor pairs rather 00:28:13.880 --> 00:28:16.160 than individuals. They have to stand there and 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:19.220 make sure one aggressive, greedy calf isn't bullying 00:28:19.220 --> 00:28:21.539 the other and drinking both bottles. That is 00:28:21.539 --> 00:28:24.220 a real hurdle initially. But over time, those 00:28:24.220 --> 00:28:27.039 full transitions actually save massive amounts 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:30.039 of labor. Think about the physical steps. Walking 00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:32.700 up to one shared pen and feeding two calves takes 00:28:32.700 --> 00:28:35.880 less time and fewer literal footsteps than walking 00:28:35.880 --> 00:28:38.099 to two completely separate, spread -out hutches. 00:28:39.150 --> 00:28:41.529 Monitoring the health of one pair is faster than 00:28:41.529 --> 00:28:44.509 checking two isolated individuals. The labor 00:28:44.509 --> 00:28:46.529 efficiency of scaling this actually works in 00:28:46.529 --> 00:28:48.289 your favor once the team gets the hang of the 00:28:48.289 --> 00:28:50.609 new protocol. I think we have beaten the theory 00:28:50.609 --> 00:28:54.250 and the data to death. We have laid out the physicist's 00:28:54.250 --> 00:28:57.230 perspective, the economic math, the facility 00:28:57.230 --> 00:28:59.930 solutions, and the looming regulatory threat. 00:29:00.289 --> 00:29:02.470 Let's make this highly actionable for the listener. 00:29:02.750 --> 00:29:05.630 A farmer just finished milking and is driving 00:29:05.630 --> 00:29:07.700 to the feed store. What are the three things 00:29:07.700 --> 00:29:09.599 they need to remember from today? Let's break 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:12.019 it down into three distinct takeaways with timelines 00:29:12.019 --> 00:29:13.819 for each so you can actually implement this. 00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:16.940 Takeaway number one is what we are calling the 00:29:16.940 --> 00:29:20.180 30 -day pair test. For your immediate action 00:29:20.180 --> 00:29:23.240 this week... Don't change your whole farm. Don't 00:29:23.240 --> 00:29:25.680 cause a panic. Just pick your next 10 heifer 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:28.279 calves to be born. Pair them up at three to five 00:29:28.279 --> 00:29:30.480 days old using the modified existing hutches. 00:29:30.700 --> 00:29:33.259 Use that UBC model where you just push two hutches 00:29:33.259 --> 00:29:35.500 together and share a single wire panel. Keep 00:29:35.500 --> 00:29:38.319 it simple. Exactly. For your medium -term strategy 00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:40.720 over the next three to six months, track them 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:42.859 relentlessly. Track their solid feed intake. 00:29:43.099 --> 00:29:44.859 Track their health events. Do they actually get 00:29:44.859 --> 00:29:47.799 more scours of BRD? And weigh them at weaning. 00:29:48.109 --> 00:29:51.470 Compare those 10 paired calves against 10 individual 00:29:51.470 --> 00:29:54.470 calves raised in the exact same weather conditions. 00:29:54.710 --> 00:29:57.069 For your long -term positioning over the next 00:29:57.069 --> 00:30:00.289 one to two years, use that specific on -farm 00:30:00.289 --> 00:30:02.769 data to justify whether you scale this up to 00:30:02.769 --> 00:30:05.190 the whole herd. Your own farm's data beats a 00:30:05.190 --> 00:30:08.430 university study every single time. I love the 00:30:08.430 --> 00:30:11.049 pragmatism of that. Test it small, measure the 00:30:11.049 --> 00:30:13.769 results with your own eyes, then scale. What 00:30:13.769 --> 00:30:16.269 is takeaway two? Takeaway number two is the day 00:30:16.269 --> 00:30:19.250 one hay protocol to kill the cross -sucking fear. 00:30:20.109 --> 00:30:22.450 Immediate action for this week. Start offering 00:30:22.450 --> 00:30:24.869 a handful of long stem hay alongside the starter 00:30:24.869 --> 00:30:27.349 grain to all your pre -weaned calves from day 00:30:27.349 --> 00:30:29.670 one. Ignore the old dogma and just start doing 00:30:29.670 --> 00:30:32.289 it tomorrow morning. Just jump in. Yep. Medium 00:30:32.289 --> 00:30:34.930 term over the next three to six months, monitor 00:30:34.930 --> 00:30:37.539 the drop in cross -sucking behavior. Watch them 00:30:37.539 --> 00:30:40.099 closely as they approach weaning when that motivation 00:30:40.099 --> 00:30:42.460 to suck peaks. You will see a massive difference 00:30:42.460 --> 00:30:44.339 in their oral behavior. And long -term, over 00:30:44.339 --> 00:30:46.900 the next one to two years, make early hay provision 00:30:46.900 --> 00:30:48.960 a strictly written, non -negotiable standard 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:51.259 operating procedure in your calf program protocols. 00:30:51.880 --> 00:30:54.480 Hand it to every new calf feeder you hire. It 00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:56.839 is incredibly simple, cheap, and it solves the 00:30:56.839 --> 00:30:58.700 biggest behavioral complaint. What is the final 00:30:58.700 --> 00:31:00.700 takeaway? Takeaway number three is all about 00:31:00.700 --> 00:31:03.569 regulatory and economic positioning. Immediate 00:31:03.569 --> 00:31:06.150 action this week. Walk out to your calf area 00:31:06.150 --> 00:31:08.789 and honestly assess your current hutch setup. 00:31:09.150 --> 00:31:11.589 Figure out exactly what it would cost in labor 00:31:11.589 --> 00:31:14.309 hours and minimal materials to remove shared 00:31:14.309 --> 00:31:17.369 walls or combined pens. Just do the mental math 00:31:17.369 --> 00:31:19.369 on the logistics so you know what you're up against. 00:31:19.589 --> 00:31:22.130 Good advice. Medium term, three to six months 00:31:22.130 --> 00:31:24.930 from now. Audit your current pre -wean mortality 00:31:24.930 --> 00:31:27.829 rate. Be brutally honest with your software records. 00:31:28.299 --> 00:31:31.440 If your death loss is over 5%, pull out a calculator 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:33.799 and figure out your exact loss inventory value 00:31:33.799 --> 00:31:36.519 at today's $3 ,300 average replacement cost. 00:31:37.019 --> 00:31:38.779 Stare at that number until it makes you uncomfortable. 00:31:39.059 --> 00:31:41.119 That'll motivate anyone. Long -term, one to two 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:43.740 years out. Have a fully operational, smooth -running 00:31:43.740 --> 00:31:46.579 pair housing protocol in place well before those 00:31:46.579 --> 00:31:49.140 2030 and 2031 international mandates hit the 00:31:49.140 --> 00:31:51.160 broader supply chain. Control the transition 00:31:51.160 --> 00:31:53.539 on your timeline, not the processor's timeline 00:31:53.539 --> 00:31:55.339 when they show up with an audit form. Those are 00:31:55.339 --> 00:31:57.980 phenomenal concrete steps that anyone can start 00:31:57.980 --> 00:32:00.480 today. And it all traces back to the value of 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:03.279 having someone completely outside our industry 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:05.759 bubble looking at our daily practices with fresh 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:08.819 eyes. The dairy industry was changed dramatically 00:32:08.819 --> 00:32:11.619 decades ago by Robert Chicoine, who showed us 00:32:11.619 --> 00:32:13.619 what one unconventional thinker could do with 00:32:13.619 --> 00:32:16.180 the bull nobody wanted. And now Emily Miller 00:32:16.180 --> 00:32:18.900 Krishan is showing us what a mathematical physicist's 00:32:18.900 --> 00:32:21.140 training does when you point it at a calf barn. 00:32:21.500 --> 00:32:24.000 It challenges the gospel, it redefines the math, 00:32:24.140 --> 00:32:26.079 and it changes the behavioral outcomes that your 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:29.099 heifers carry for the rest of their lives. So 00:32:29.099 --> 00:32:31.279 here's a final provocative question for you to 00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:33.299 mull over on your drive back from the feed store. 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:36.339 What is the most unconventional background on 00:32:36.339 --> 00:32:38.700 your farm team right now? Who is the outsider 00:32:38.700 --> 00:32:40.859 on your payroll? And what are they seeing that 00:32:40.859 --> 00:32:42.900 the dairy lifers have gone entirely blind to? 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:45.920 This has been another Bullvine podcast from the 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:48.380 Bullvine podcast. For more straight talking industry 00:32:48.380 --> 00:32:52.380 analysis, head to www .thebullvine .com. Subscribe 00:32:52.380 --> 00:32:54.960 wherever you get podcasts. We're out with new 00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:57.599 episodes every day and upcoming topics will be 00:32:57.599 --> 00:32:59.700 the next installment of The Outsiders featuring 00:32:59.700 --> 00:33:02.220 the software engineer who completely rewrote 00:33:02.220 --> 00:33:02.839 how we read.