Evaluation of factors affecting surplus calf sale price and industry stakeholder attitudes toward surplus calves

In the dairy industry, approximately half of the calves born are sold into the meat industry as “surplus calves”. Since these calves are not considered to be valuable to dairy producers, they frequently receive suboptimal care. Dairy producers in the Midwest reported they provided better care to calves sold directly than through auction (Creutzinger et al., 2022), but there is no data to support this. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess factors that influenced sale price and if calf condition varied between those sold at auction vs. directly to a calf-raiser.