CANTON – Nationally respected calf and heifer management specialist Dr. Sam Leadley will share his insights on critical components of a successful dairy business with farmers and agribusiness professionals from noon to 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 9 at the Cooperative Extension Learning Farm, Rt. 68.

The cost is $20 for the first person from one farm and $10 for any additional people from that farm. Pre-registration with Brent Buchanan, 379-9192 or bab22@cornell.edu, is requested.

Leadley helped develop the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association’s Level I and II production and performance standards for Holstein calves from birth to six months and for heifers from six months to freshening.

“It is a worthwhile task to use year-to-year records on such ‘Gold Standard’ criteria as growth, colostrum management, nutrition, housing, vaccination, parasite control, and other factors to evaluate the success of your calf and heifer rearing programs and to identify areas where there are opportunities to make your dairy business more profitable,” Leadley says.

Leadley is co-author of Calf Manager, a CD published in English and Spanish with 40 teaching lessons and 22 video clips on successfully raising dairy calves. The CD will be available for sale.

Leadley writes a monthly Calf Connection column for the Northeast Dairy Business magazine, and edits the Calving Ease newsletter. In cooperation with the Attica Veterinary Associates’ clinic laboratory, Dr. Leadley runs the Colostrum Quality Control Program for dairy farms applying HACCP (Hazard Assessment Critical Control Points) methods to colostrum management.

The program is offered as part of the Northern NY Dairy Institute, a partnership of the Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations of Northern New York, the WH Miner Agricultural Research Institute, the NY Center for Dairy Excellence and the Cornell PRO-Dairy program.