National Dairy Calf and Heifer Conference in Rochester, April 1-3, 2008

Hugh Chester-Jones, Animal Scientist, SROC and
Neil Broadwater, Regional Extension Educator-Dairy

February 29, 2008

Educational sessions, virtual tours, and a trade show will all be part of the 12th Annual National Dairy Calf and Heifer Association (DCHA) Conference coming up April 1-3, 2008 at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, MN. At last year’s national conference, the membership approved a name change for the association; formerly known as the Professional Dairy Heifer Growers Association (PDHGA), which may still be more familiar to some. This year’s conference theme is “Expanding Horizons”. Past conferences have been held in Burlington, VT (2007); Visalia, CA (2006); Sioux Falls, SD (2005); Roanoke, VA (2004); Green Bay, WI (2003); and Baltimore, MD (2002). The association holds the annual conference in various parts of the nation in order to provide the opportunity for more local and regional dairy producers, custom calf and heifer raisers, and other dairy professionals to attend this 3-day event. Expected attendance this year is 500 to 600 people.

The conference runs from 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, April 1, with the opening of the Trade Show until 12:00 noon on Thursday, April 3. There is a pre-conference seminar on April 1, from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. entitled “Perspectives of Controlling Feed Costs” for an additional fee for those who wish to come early. The opening general session keynote address by dairy leaders Mike Brown from Glanbia Foods and Tom Shephard from Dairylea Cooperatives will share their perspectives on changes in the dairy industry. The General Session keynote on Wednesday will be given by well known agricultural columnist Dr. Val Farmer who will discuss “The Family Farm: Challenges for Succession to the Younger Generation”. The Thursday keynote by Dr. Gary Smith from Colorado State University will address the integration of beef quality assurance into the dairy industry.

Participants of the conference will be able to select from four educational tracks being offered during the three days. The four tracks are each repeated once and are as follows:

• Calf Growers. Discussions will be on: New horizons in calf feeding system technology, presented by a panel of individuals recognized as innovators in calf management; Application of new technologies in functional proteins for feeding calves; and Milk replacers: Can quality come at a reduced cost?
• Dairy Producers Raising Heifers. Topics include: Heifer genetics and DNA – The rules are about to change; Experiences with limit-feeding and feeding cross-bred heifers; and Milk pasteurization – Success and pitfalls.
• Heifer Growers. Topics include: Technological advances in record keeping tools; Quantifying heifer culling decisions; Perspectives of foot health – Observations, prevention and treatment.
• Business and Management. Topics include: Creating sustainable calf and heifer businesses – Part I: Financial infrastructure, and Part II: People dynamics – How to make both aspects work!

One of the future technology talks will be a discussion on “Heifer Genetics and DNA – The Rules are About to Change” in the Dairy Producers Raising Heifers track presented by Dr. Kent Weigel, University of Wisconsin-Madison, on Tuesday, April 1 at 3:40 p.m. This topic is just one example of helping conference participants look into the future of the dairy calf and heifer raising industry. According to Dr. Weigel, much of genetic selection of dairy cattle has been based on the Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) milk recording program with the assumption that all economically important events happen between 1 and 305 days postpartum in lactating animals. There has been a lack of activity with regard to selection for important calf and heifer traits. Dr. Weigel feels that the development of new systems for measuring, storing and analyzing data for calf and heifer traits, and incorporating them into genetic selection programs, remains a major challenge. However, this information could be useful – not only for genetic selection but also for management of calves and heifers. He will discuss the possibilities and opportunities of calf and heifer growers for the development of new data collection and genomic evaluation programs for novel traits that haven’t been considered in the past.

Virtual tours will be held all three days with selected farms from across the country participating in the virtual tour theme of “What Makes My Operation Unique?” Presentations by producers will showcase their operations, then follow with a question and answer session.

Speakers selected for this conference are calf and heifer raisers, and researchers and scientists from universities and industry from throughout the country – all who have informative and interesting presentations lined up for those attending the conference.

Pre-registration deadline for the conference is Thursday, March 20. There are member and non-member rates, and student and spouse rates as well as half-day, one-day or two-day rates. To register, go to the website http://www.calfandheifer.org/ or contact the DCHA office at 877-434-3377.

Conference hotels in Rochester include the Radisson Plaza Hotel (507-281-8000) or Hilton Garden Inn (507-285-1234).