Your average calf will lie to you. Your bottom tier won't. One farm's poorest calves gained 1.38 lb/day on one program and 0.90 on another — same barn, same week.

That gap is the week-six stall, and most farms never put a number on it. The Bullvine Podcast breaks down a 39-calf comparison of two commercial calf programs: 1.73 vs 1.39 lb/day overall, 2.07 vs 1.31 in the late pre-weaning phase. A 0.34 lb/day edge projects to roughly 205 to 440 pounds more first-lactation milk per heifer — before you buy new genetics or a new barn.

What you'll learn:

• Why the week-six handoff, not the calf, stalls your growth curve
• How the stall gets set in the first 24 hours through colostrum
• Why starter intake — not milk — builds the rumen for weaning
• What 0.34 lb/day is worth at $21/cwt across 100 replacements
 ...