Waste milk – a “free” source of acceptable calf nutrition. Or is it?Technically, waste milk is not “free,” because there still is a cost to produce it. It is only perceived as free because there is nothing else a dairy can do with it.

Calves are creatures of habit. They crave physical comfort, companionship, and, of course, their milk ration.

One of the best things we can do as calf raisers is to deliver those elements consistently.

Feeding pasteurized waste milk to preweaned calves can make sense economically, and many dairies and calf raisers do it very well. But managing a pasteurizing system is definitely not a “no-brainer.”