Calves on a dairy

I'm not too sure where I stand when it comes to calf processing on a dairy.
I've only seen a few places (so far), but I can't say I agree with it 100%.

The future of a dairy is the calves, in my opinion. If you want more milking cows, then you have to replace your old ones with new ones - who are your calves. It seems, however, that the calves are last priority at many dairies. This may have something to do with survival of the fittest (like if they are weak, let 'em die).  I don't know what percentage of calves should live, but I feel like if you give them a little tlc and analyze your calf processing protocol, then you should be able to achieve a pretty high survival rate.

Also my deep thought for the day is if I were to die and come back a living thing, I would put male dairy cow at the absolute bottom of my list. You cannot GIVE them away which is a little troubling to me. I will leave it at that.

The dairy uses sexed semen which is giving this dairy a 65% heifer rate. So I supposed when you look at the shear volume of this dairy, it is WAY better to get 65% than 50 (or whatever it is naturally).

The birth of a dairy cow is so awesome to watch. After any semi-crappy day, you can always go watch a couple of births to lift your spirits. The ONE main thing, though is you CANNOT look at their junk. Just walk away and tell yourself , "It's a girl! It's a girl!! And BAM your day just got a little better!