Abstract <p>The research study was carried out to find the effective decision-making strategies focused on the Holstein heifer keeping and feeding management to improve cow performance and longevity. The research project was based on both the field exploration running across dairy farms and the production and breeding record datasets for 10 years from 23 Holstein breeding farms with total livestock population of 72 900, including 32 800 cows, in the Central Federal okrug. Technologies based on summarized detailed liveweight datasets for 10- and 12-month-old heifers were categorized into the model framework incorporating moderate, moderately intensive, and intensive management to achieve approximately 250 and 300 kg, 251–280 kg and 300–330 kg, and more than 281 and 331 kg, respectively. The changes in technologies for keeping heifers for the last decade were focused on introducing the individual hutches in the open outdoor yards or open-sided sheds in a summer season (28%) or in housing in a winter season (56%) to protect them from precipitation and wind. The trend to increase the daily colostrum and milk feeding with the simultaneous relatively shortened feeding period (9.5 weeks) and increased concentrate intake to 3 kg a day at 4–5 months old was observed. It positively correlates with the liveweight gain rates and the dairy performance of the first-calf heifers to maximize milk production, <i>r</i> = 0.26–0.49 (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). The costs of raising the Holstein heifers under the moderate and moderately intensive technologies ranges from 122 200 rubles to 156 600 rubles, respectively. Therefore, the technologies optimizing the liveweight gain rates and the high milk yields of the first-calf heifers are considered the most effective with utility of the ratio of the total heifer raising cost to the cost of the milk yield per cow per year.</p>