Introduction
Welcome to NASCalf! This Help document provides a quick introduction to the purpose and implementation of the NASCalf software. Watch the video or read the info below.
Who is Calf Notes Consulting?
Calf Notes Consulting, LLC is a consulting firm based in Florida that provides training, tools, and consulting services for raising young dairy calves and heifers. The firm was founded in 2023 and has provided consulting and training services to farmers, universities, and corporations all over the world.
Dairy producers increasingly recognize the need for progressive feeding and management programs for their young calves so they may express their full genetic potential for growth and future milk production. Calf Notes Consulting provides the information needed by producers and their advisors to optimize health and growth throughout the growing period, so that animals are fully prepared to enter the milking string or feedlot and become productive animals in the herd.
What is NASCalf?
NASCalf is a computer simulation of growth based on the nutrient requirement models published in the 2021 National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine publication “Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle”.
The NASCalf model is functionally similar to the “Calfsim” model published by Dr. Joao Costa and colleagues at the University of Vermont. A link to the Calfsim model is here. Both NASCalf and Calfsim use the NASEM equations for young calves to predict growth of a calf (as defined by NASEM) from birth to a final point. Both models, in their base configuration, provide similar daily estimates of growth to those of NASEM. However, GPS and Calfsim use daily predictions to plot a growth curve for the animals being modeled.
How do Calfsim and NASCalf differ?
Calfsim model, available here, is an online prediction model. Data are entered at the Calfsim website, the calculations are done “in the cloud”, and results returned to the webpage. The NASCalf model is an executable (.exe) file that is downloaded to the user’s local machine and all calculations are performed there.
The base models for Calfsim and NASCalf are basd on the same publicly available equations and, thus, provide essentially the same data. The NASCalfmodel expands on the base NASEM model by incorporating adjustments to several equations based on a series of manuscripts published in the Journal of Dairy Science between 2019 and 2021. These adjustments have not been critically evaluated in the context of calf growth, so evaluating them within the context of a growth model is a tremendous opportunity to review published changes to the NASEM model.
