While the initial days/weeks of calf rearing may appear to be the most labour-intensive stage for farmers, the first season at grass can prove a more difficult phase for them to manage.

Nutritionally, success is measured by developing the calf as best as possible prior to introducing grazed grass. Given that newborn calves are born with undeveloped rumens, the initial objective is to assist such rumen development prior to being weaned off milk. This enables them to become cost-effective forage consumers.

Rumen development begins within the first few days of life and is advanced by exposure to healthy bacteria from the environment and the consumption of solid feeds. Introducing a palatable calf-starter ration/nut from 3 days of ages (18% Crude Protein) is important, along with access to fresh, clean water and high-quality clean straw ad-libitum (no haylage/silage).

Weaning on a weight basis alone can create a false sense of security in terms of how ready calves are for the next stage of nutrition. Weaning shouldn’t be considered until calves are intaking a minimum of 1.5kg concentrate/day in grouped pens – which indicates that the calf’s dry matter intakes can cope with the transition to a 100% solid diet.

Year-on-year, cases of calves suffering from setbacks following their introduction to grass can also prove a major influencing factor.

Nutritionally, spring grass can be high in oils like conjugated linoleic acid, sugars and potentially nitrogen, which young, underdeveloped rumens can find it hard to adjust to. Low covers of grass also have very little fibre, which is a key substrate for good rumen health.

Calves aren’t fully functioning ruminants, which is why additional care and attention is required at so critical a phase in their development.

Greater rumen development in early life can help combat such issues, alongside the following: offering concentrates post-turnout, grazing slightly heavier covers until calves having adapted to grazing, offering a fibre source to ease the transition and/or strip grazing calves to ensure stem content is also being grazed.

For more information and calf rearing advice, contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor here.

The importance of colostrum and the 3-2-1 rule are well known, however conversations still arise about how best to avoid disease outbreak in the calf shed. As we face into another spring a ‘back to basics’ approach needs to be taken with colostrum protocols.

Hygiene

Cleanliness is a huge dictating factor as dirt contamination is known to have a negative effect on passive transfer. With this in mind, it is vital that all feed equipment is disinfected before colostrum is fed, and that good hygiene protocols are applied throughout the colostrum collection process. It is important to remember that a newborn calf will first pick up an infection through its naval or mouth. Therefore, the teats and underbelly of the cow along with contact with the bedding are a source of infection for a newborn calf. Prolonged time spent in the calving area/calving pens can often be a key factor in disease transfer in herds.

Storage 

Excess colostrum can be stored in a fridge at 4°C, however it can only be refrigerated safely for 24-48 hours as bacteria can still grow. it is an all-too-common sight to see buckets of colostrum in the parlour/ dairy, where bacterial counts can double every twenty minutes. Pooling colostrum is also a topical debate on farm. A dam-to-calf system is obviously the ideal situation, however during a  compact calving period, this can sometimes be difficult to achieve in every situation. It is very important to remember that colostrum quality can vary dramatically between cows, leading to increased disease risk and poor quality colostrum entering the pool. Where pooling occurs, colostrum must be Brix tested prior to pooling.

Quality 

Factors that affect colostrum quality are short dry periods, high parity, high yielders (dilution effect) and poor nutrition in the dry period. Vaccination of the dam is also a key consideration to help avoid scour outbreaks, however, passive transfer from the vaccine only occurs from dam-calf via colostrum and transition milk, so all the above still applies.

For more information on colostrum management contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor.

The ultimate goal of calf rearing is to set up a heifer to achieve target weights over her lifetime in order to maximise profitability. These targets will include doubling her birthweight at the point of weaning, achieving 60% of her mature weight at breeding, and calving down at 24 months at 90% of her mature body weight.

To reach such targets, replacement heifers need to achieve a steady gain of approximately 0.75 kg/day from birth. Interruptions to performance over the calf-rearing period may offset such target weights being achieved. Therefore, adopting best practice calf rearing advice and protocols are of key importance over the next few vital weeks.

3-2-1 Rule

Good colostrum management is the most important factor in calf health and survival. Over the last 3-5 years, 70% of calves that presented for a post-mortem at regional veterinary laboratories, were found to have received either poor quality or insufficient quantities of colostrum.

When feeding colostrum, it is essential that the 3-2-1 rule is adhered to. This includes providing the calf with at a minimum of 3 litres (or 5-6% of a calf’s birth weight), within 2 hours of birth, using colostrum from the cows first milking. This process should then be repeated 8 hours later, however it is important to note that by the second milking, the dam’s immunoglobulin content will have halved.

Cleanliness of colostrum is a huge dictating factor, as the amount of dirt particles or contamination to the colostrum before entering the calf will limit the amount of immunity absorption available. Feeding pooled colostrum to calves is also not recommended as it can lead to major risk factors including increased disease risk and poor-quality colostrum entering the pool.

With this in mind, it is essential to ensure that all utensils are sterile and that milking protocols and good colostrum harvesting hygiene are applied.

Calf Hygiene and Facilities

Facilities ideally should be clean, dry, draught free, with good ventilation. A new-born calf will spend over 80% of their time lying down, therefore it is imperative to provide a deep, warm, dry bed always.

Calves should spend minimal time periods in the calving-pen to avoid picking up infection or disease. To avoid carrying disease into the calf shed over the peak calving months, set-up a wash point at the entrance to the calf shed for staff, vets, etc. Early detection of sick calves and isolation to avoid spreading bacterial infections, is also of high importance.

Rumen Development

Once a calf starts to intake water and starter concentrates/ration, we introduce healthy bacteria into the rumen which will kick-start rumen development. Starter concentrates and ad-lib fresh water should be available to the calf from three days of age. A clean source of long roughage/fibre (e.g. straw) should also be available at all times to promote dry matter intakes This forage should be offered above ground level in racks/mangers.

Weaning should only ever be considered once calves are consuming 1.5 kg of concentrates/day. Weaning calves on a weight basis, compared to an age basis, will result in a more uniform batch.

Milk Replacer Choice

When it comes to milk replacer, the three main benefits include:

1. Cost effectiveness
2. Reduced risk of disease transfer in the herd
3. Consistency in the calf’s diet

Milk replacer should be dairy derived and contain a high dairy content. Dairy proteins are more easily digestible and available to the calf compared to plant-based proteins. Both Vitalac Red and Blue Calf Milk Replacers contain a 90-95% dairy content.

Milk replacer should replicate the role of good quality whole milk, typically offered at 12.5% milk solids (E.g. 125 g powder, into 875ml clean water to make 1 litre of milk). Feeding a calf twice-a-day at 6 litres/day would result in offering the calf 750 g of powder/day.

When mixing, adhere to the milk replacer guidelines outlined below using fresh clean, warm water and sterile mixing and feeding utensils. The optimal drinking temperature of the calf milk replacer is 39°C. To prepare the milk, dissolve the powder in two-thirds of the amount of water at 55-60°C and add the remaining water at room temperature until the optimum drinking temperature is reached.

See typical milk replacer feeding guidelines below:

More Information:

For more information, browse our Vitalac Calf Milk Replacer page or download the Agritech-Milk-Replacer-Brochure (2.5MB).

Newborn calves are key to future farm profitability, therefore it is critical to optimise performance from the earliest stages. In addition to providing a clean, dry and warm environment, an early feeding strategy geared towards rumen development is key to successful calf rearing.

As all farmers know, feeding adequate amounts of colostrum to the new-born calf in a timely manner is crucial. The use of milk acidifiers is now a well-established practice on Irish farms as they promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria, while restricting cultures that may cause nutritional issues. However, they are not as effective when it comes to encouraging the development of a large healthy rumen.

Managing digestive changes

To achieve optimum rumen development, it is important to introduce a high energy/protein calf starter ration from approximately 5 days of age, with free access to fresh clean water and high-quality straw. This will ensure good calf growth rates and a healthy well-developed rumen for future life. Bear in mind that once the rumen development process begins at two weeks of age, the subsequent change in digestion and gut function can make the animal highly susceptible to digestive upsets and pathogen challenges. This is where a product like as VITAMEG has many benefits.    

Vitameg is an advanced feeding supplement for young calves. It contains botanical extracts which enhances digestion and stimulates feed intake by optimising the growth of gut microbial flora to outcompete pathogens. Vitameg also contains prebiotic and yeast cell walls, commonly referred to as MOS, which helps fight against bacteria such as E-coli and salmonella. It also has added omega-3 which has shown to improve immunity and disease resistance, thereby preventing infection and stress.

Developing a large healthy rumen at this early stage will encourage the calf to consume large amounts of high-quality forage, i.e., grazed grass and silage.

Through on farm nutritional support, Agritech are available to support farmers throughout the calving season and beyond. To find out more about Vitameg, contact your local Agritech distributor or click here.

Although temperatures are beginning to rise, calves are still at risk of contracting pneumonia. Take a look at some of the common causes as well as our effective solutions below:

Causes

• Variation in high day temperatures and low night temperatures. If greater than 13°C, animals are at a higher risk of pneumonia
• Poor shed ventilation, i.e. leaving doors open in the late evening
• Overstocking sheds. As calves grow, they require more ground and air space

Solutions 

• Treat all symptoms immediately
• Provide shelter, space and keep calves rehydrated at all times
• Boost calf immunity by feeding Vitameg in both milk and feed

Vitameg

Vitameg is a feeding supplement with prebiotic and Omega-3 for young ruminants.

Vitameg’s combination of ingredients when fed to young ruminants will:

• Increase feed intakes.
• Stimulate rumen development.
• Increase daily live weight gain.
• Support calf natural defence mechanism.
• Improve digestibility

View our Vitameg brochure 

To find out more, contact your local distributor 

As we await the arrival of an ever superior generation of calves over the coming months, it is now worthwhile to take a closer look at young calf nutrition when planning ahead for the busy season.

Members of the Agritech team recently attended a Calf Performance Conference at the Blanca Research Facility in Spain which featured presentations from many renowned researchers, including Professor Alex Bach.

According to Agritech’s Sales Director, John Kenny, “From the conference, it became clear to me that at a level, we are significantly restricting the potential of our calves in this country with the level of milk replacer we feed to them. While this is fine for young calves which are destined for beef, it is totally uneconomical to take this approach with dairy female calves.

Feed efficiency runs at the rate of 60% in a young calf compared to just 7% in a pre-calving two year old heifer. I believe that our national dairy herd has much more to gain by taking a closer look at this area going forward.”

Pre-Weaning  

Farmers today are very well informed when it comes to the area of managing and feeding adequate amounts of colostrum to the new born calf in a timely manner. However, the benefits of achieving maximised weight performance from day two to weaning are far less documented in Ireland.

Let’s take an example of the calf’s mammary gland. When a dairy heifer calf is born, its mammary gland constitutes just 1% of its total body weight. If the daily live-weight gain of this calf is inadequate up to weaning, this key organ will most likely remain at this percentage. However, if calf performance is raised up to as near as possible to 1kg per head per day, the cells in this key gland will continuously split and multiply to the extent where the mammary gland will increase to approximately 2% of the calf’s body weight at 9-10 weeks of age.

While the above example highlights the mammary gland, the benefits of accelerated growth pre-weaning are applicable to all of the key organs in the young calf’s body, including heart, lungs, kidneys etc. The long term benefits of achieving a better developed calf at weaning with bigger and stronger organs are proven to deliver significant lifetime benefits through increased daily yields and improved disease immunity. It is also now widely accepted that the effects of increased growth pre-weaning on first lactation alone is circa +300 litres milk yield.

John states that that there is no such thing as compensatory growth with this approach to calf rearing. “Once the cells in each organ stop dividing at in or around the nine or ten week stage, they grow in line with the rest of the animal’s body thereafter. Farmers will only get one chance in a calf’s lifetime to secure this advantage.”

Vitalac Calf Milk Replacer

Agritech work with leaders in calf nutrition to bring a calf milk replacer range which will encourage accelerated growth and performance. Agritech’s Vitalac Calf Milk Replacer Range from Nukamel offers a well-balanced level of highly digestible fat and protein via carefully selected, high quality ingredients. These quality ingredients are further enhanced through the use of advanced techniques and technology such as Emulsizym and Spray Cooling Technology. 

Tried and tested by Teagasc at Grange Research Institute, Vitalac Milk Replacers for calves showed increases in live weight gain and concentrate intakes of 8% and 10% over other leading brands on the market. Vitalac Calf Milk Replacer is highly soluble and suitable for both bucket and/or automatic feeding systems.

For more information on the Vitalac Calf Milk Replacer Range and calf rearing, contact your local distributor or click here. 

Planning ahead is the key ingredient for success. Below we outline a number of key tasks that farmers must address to ensure that they are ready for the New Year.

Silage Analysis

Favourable weather conditions created excellent autumn grazing conditions across the country, enabling many farms to bulk up silage stocks and reduce the risk of fodder deficits this winter. Despite this, it is essential not to become complacent, therefore we recommend that every farm establishes the quality and supply of silage in order to ensure that all animals are fed for optimum performance. Simply measure length x width x height (metres)/1.4 to give an accurate assessment of fresh tonnes of silage in the pit.

Cow Body Condition Analysis

Cow body condition analysis is one of the most important jobs to be completed on farms at this time of the year. We recommend that farmers segregate under conditioned cows, especially first time calvers and those carrying twins, and supplement appropriately. A simple mix of soya and a barley or oats blend will fit most situations with the ratios and feeding levels dictated by silage quality and cow condition.

Dry Cow Mineral Supplementation

Dry cow supplementation is essential for this time of the year. With a feeding recommendation of 100 grams per head per day, it is important that an increased amount of feed per day is given to cows who started their dry cow supplements late. A dry cow should receive a minimum of 6kgs of dry cow minerals in advance of calving in order to ensure that she is adequately replenished and prepared for calving and next year’s lactation.

Click here for more information or take a read of our brand new 2019 Welmin Brochure.

Housing Hygiene 

With herd sizes increasing, the pressure on calving facilities and calf housing has become intense on many farms. If you suspect that cryptosporidium is a problem on your farm, it is important to ensure that the disinfectant you use addresses this hazardous threat. Steam cleaning is also a very useful tool in the fight against this parasite. It is highly recommended to apply a suitable hygiene product such as our Sanitise Bedding Conditioner to the disinfected area.

Vaccinations

A ‘dry’ farm is not an assurance against fluke infection, therefore the herd should be dung sampled to establish if parasites exist. Many of the anti-scour vaccines have a recommended application time of between 12 and 3 weeks before calving, making now an excellent time to vaccinate the early calving portion of the herd. Be careful to adhere to the regulatory guidelines when addressing fluke infections.

Soil Testing

Now is also a great time to carry out the required soil tests on your farm. Ideally, the optimum time to test is 12 + weeks following the application of chemical fertilizer or slurry. When soil testing, it is important to ensure that the test taken is an accurate representation of the area being tested. This is best achieved by using a soil core and walking the area in a ‘W’ formation. 250 grams is an adequate amount of soil to include for each sample.

For further advice on any of the above items discussed, please contact your local distributor. 

Wishing all our customers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We’re putting together a series of Management Guidelines for advice on topics including Mineral Supplementation, Grass Management and Calving. The latest ones we’ve added to our website focus on Calf Management, Milk Replacer Feeding Guidelines and the technology behind our Vitalac range of Milk Replacers.

Successful calf rearing requires an understanding of the basic principles, as well as experience and good observation skills. At Agritech, we understand the challenges of the newborn calf and work with leaders in calf nutrition to bring an excellent range of calf milk replacers for the stable and efficient rearing of calves. The Vitalac range from Nukamel offers a well-balanced level of highly digestible fat and protein via carefully selected, high quality ingredients.

Milk Replacer is a consistent quality feed to meet the growth and development targets of the young calf. It reduces disease risk to the calf from antibiotics/mastitis milk, prevents disease transmission (Para-tuberculosis, Salmonella, Mycoplasma Bovis), ensures the calf gets probiotics, and the vitamins and minerals needed for maintaining healthy tissues, immune response and growth.

Table: Nutritional composition of Calf Milk Replacer vs Cow Milk (As % DM)

We’ve also come up with a Healthy Calf Checklist (0.4MB Download) to use when purchasing calves.

See our full list of Management Guidelines.

For more information about our products or to talk to us, contact our Head Office or your local Agritech Distributor.