By Rebecca Bennett, ECV Nutritionist
Rearing healthy, productive calves is crucial for the success of the whole farm enterprise. Whether rearing quality, high-producing heifer replacements or beef animals with high growth rates, the goals are similar - to raise calves efficiently in a cost-effective way. The early stages of a calf’s life, especially during the first few weeks, play a fundamental role in setting the foundations for health, growth and productivity.
Colostrum management
Colostrum is vital to the newborn calf as it contains antibodies to provide immunity and is rich in energy and nutrients that are essential for growth. Monitoring your colostrum is key and it is important to follow the 4 Q’s to get the most out of colostrum:
¨ Quantity: Aim for 10% of body weight. A 40kg calf requires 4 litres of colostrum within two hours.
¨ Quality: Test using a refractometer. Aim for a minimum of at least 50g/L of IgG antibodies (22%).
¨ Quickly: Feed within the first 2 hours of birth. Cows stop producing colostrum at calving and quality decreases by 3.7% per hour after calving. The calf’s ability to absorb antibodies only lasts a few hours.
¨ sQueaky clean: Good hygiene is essential when harvesting colostrum. Colostrum must be used within 1 hour or 3 hours if stored in the fridge. At room temperature, bacteria can double every 20 minutes. Colostrum can be frozen for up to a year but care must be taken not to exceed 60°C when defrosting.
SCCL colostrum is made using only whole bovine colostrum collected from healthy cows, up to 24 hours post-calving. It can be used as a complete replacer or supplement to maternal colostrum when the quality is not sufficient (below 22% on the Brix Refractometer). It has no added vegetable fats or oils and none of the natural milk fat has been removed which is common in other colostrum products. This provides the calf with immune protection and all the nutrients needed for the best start in life, leading to a productive future.
Rumen development
Feeding a quality concentrate and ensuring water intake are the most important factors for good rumen development as this provides the microbes with the nutrients they need to grow and multiply. Starch in the starter feed is digested by the rumen microbes to produce volatile fatty acids. These stimulate the rumen papillae to grow, which increases the surface area and absorptive ability. The image below shows the importance of a starter feed for rumen development. Feed should be provided fresh, daily from 4 days of age. After 3 weeks on starter feed, the rumen will have enough microbes to ferment the feed and supply the calf with energy as well as being able to consume fibre and digest forage efficiently. Calves fed on milk and grass will eventually develop a functional rumen but over a much longer period of time. Providing forage, ideally chopped straw, is also important to aid rumen development, stabilise rumen pH, maintain integrity and health of rumen wall and stimulate feed intake.
Key features to look for in a starter feed
¨ High protein - at least 18% crude protein
¨ High energy - at least 12.5 MJ/kg DM
¨ High quality raw materials
¨ Good vitamin levels - look for B vitamins
¨ Low fibre and ash content
¨ Good palatability to ensure intake
ECV First Stage Calf Pellets are a high energy and protein compound feed that can be fed to calves from two days old. It is formulated using top quality raw materials such as maize, hi pro soya, wheat, distillers’ dark grains and sugar beet pulp. This ensures a highly digestible feed that provides the calf with a balanced diet ensuring it gets off to the best start. It contains a high specification mineral package which includes Safmannan to promote beneficial bacteria and aid gut health and feed conversion. It also features Xtract, a plant based digestion enhancer proven to improve feed conversion. First Stage is available as a 3mm pellet, this ensures intake and reduces feed sorting which can be common with coarse mix type starter feeds.