Influence of arrival weight, season and calf supplier on survival in Holstein beef calves on a calf ranch in California, USA.

On a yearly basis, large calf ranches rear thousands of neonatal cattle for replacement heifers, veal or dairy beef. Dairy beef ranches obtain bull-calves from multiple sources and with questionable colostrum intake histories. Such ranches accumulate large amounts of data that could be used to help them with calf purchasing and on-farm management practices to avoid losses.