How Calf Health Monitoring is Changing Youngstock Management

2 Mar 2026 News 2 min

In this episode of The Select Sires Podcast, host Ethan Haywood sits down with CowManager’s own Lori Nagel, DVM, to explore how advanced calf health monitoring technology is transforming youngstock care. From early disease detection to maximizing lifetime performance, this conversation highlights the power of real-time data to support healthier calves and protect your herd’s genetic investment.

Why Calf Health Is Critical to Herd Performance

This Select Sires Podcast, Lori Nagel, DVM, Performance Specialist at CowManager, discusses how advanced calf health monitoring technology is transforming modern dairy farm management. The episode highlights the importance of protecting youngstock through early disease detection, proactive intervention, and data-driven decision-making.

Driving Profitability Through Precision Dairy Technology

With rising input costs and increasing pressure to maximize lifetime productivity, calf health has never been more critical to overall herd performance. Lori explains how CowManager’s ear sensor technology and real-time behavioral monitoring provide actionable insights into eating, rumination, activity, and resting patterns. By leveraging precision livestock farming tools, producers can detect subtle behavioral changes that often indicate illness, well before visible clinical symptoms appear.

The conversation dives into how continuous cow and calf health monitoring systems support faster treatment decisions, reduce labor demands, improve treatment accuracy, and ultimately increase survival rates and long-term milk production potential. Whether calves are housed individually or in group settings, CowManager’s herd management software enables dairy producers to monitor youngstock remotely and respond quickly to health alerts.

Supporting Youngstock

Listeners will gain insight into how data-driven dairy management, automated health alerts, and proactive youngstock care help protect genetic investments and improve overall farm profitability. A dairy producers looking to strengthen their calf management strategy, enhance animal welfare, and implement innovative technology that drives measurable results should listen now!

Listen to the Podcast

Curious to hear the full conversation with all of Dr. Lori Nagel’s insights? Listen to the Select Sires Podcast on Spotify.

Download the Calf Guide

Our calf rearing guide is designed to help dairy farmers and youngstock managers take full control of the early stages of development, with a strong focus on calf health monitoring from just 14 days old.

Download now

Modules & Extra Functionalities

Health

Get an alert up to 3 days before any signs of clinical illness. Or, if your cow is already sick, monitor recovery in detail.

Fertility

Increase profit with timely insemination. Know exactly when a cow is in heat and when to inseminate.

Nutrition

Prevent heat stress and disease, take your feed management to the next level, and achieve the goals set for your herd.

Transition

Experience smoother transitions and healthier herds with our advanced Transition Monitor.

Youngstock

Effective calf health management leads to increased future milk production and a healthier, more productive herd.

Auto Drafting

Separate cows with heat or health alerts from the rest of the herd with the integrated Auto Drafting functionality.

MultiView

Give your staff, veterinarian, nutritionist, and other advisors access to selected cow data.

Sort my Cow (USA)

Automatically separate cows with heat or health alerts with Sort my Cow and the CowManager sorting gate.

Draft my Cow (NZ)

Automatically separate cows with heat or health alerts with Draft my Cow and the CowManager drafting gate.

Find my Cow

Find a cow that’s in heat, sick or in the wrong pen within seconds with our Locator and Flash tools.