Milk Calves

[crashbox]

2 feeds x 4l @125g/l of top spec powder for dairy reps and fair to middling spec for beefies. Aiming to wean at 9 weeks ish.

We feed at 200g/l.
Saves lugging round so much water...

 

[In the pit]

We feed at 200g/l.
Saves lugging round so much water...

200 grms per litre here aswell

 

[DairyNerd]

Flying herd. 2.5L whole milk twice a day, most gone by 3 weeks old, any we keep are generally weaned when we run out of milk to feed as long as they are eating a reasonable amount of barley mix.

 

[Jdunn55]

What powder?

British milk something or other

24% protein and 21% oil
Whey powder not skimmed

 

[frederick]

200 grms per litre here aswell

Learnt recently this isn't as handy as it sounds. Osmolality of milk is important. It means how the nutrients pass across the gut wall and relative concentrations either side. Their are some powders that are specifically designed to have an osmolality closer to milk. Making the powder stronger moves it even further from ideal.
Impact probably minimal but it will be there.

 

[In the pit]

2 autumn calving herds here ,one lot of calves fed old way (150 grms ) and mine fed at 200 grms and my calves at 3 months old are so much bigger

 

[Beef farmer]

2 autumn calving herds here ,one lot of calves fed old way (150 grms ) and mine fed at 200 grms and my calves at 3 months old are so much bigger

If the same liters, your feeding 33% more, so you would expect and need them bigger. At 2 years old are they bigger?

 

[frederick]

2 autumn calving herds here ,one lot of calves fed old way (150 grms ) and mine fed at 200 grms and my calves at 3 months old are so much bigger

You do talk some sh!t sometimes.
I'm not questioning that your calves are bigger something in the rearing helps them on but it sure as hell ain't because you feed them exactly the same amount of milk powder just yours is made up in a bit less water.

My point about osmolality would be more relevant in a calf slightly under the weather first and then the risk of scours maybe greater on the strong mix. This is really at the end of marginal gains. It won't produce a pen of bigger calves.

 

[Jdunn55]

If the same liters, your feeding 33% more, so you would expect and need them bigger. At 2 years old are they bigger?

They won't be able to digest all the powder though, a percentage will be wasted. 150g to one litre is more than enough, if you want to feed the same amount of powder just add more water and then it will be digested

It's all to do with diffusion and osmosis of water and the powder moving from an area of high concentration (the milk in the bottle) to an area of low concentration (the stomach lining)
The more powder the bigger the particles that have to pass through the lining
That in turn means that it takes longer and therefore the calf won't be able to digest all the powder. Whereas mixed at 120-150 it moves across quickly so is digested more efficiently

 

[Jamer]

I worry that higher conscious/lower volume total feed then the greedy/fast ones are going to starve the slower/timid ones.

 

[Werzle]

Alot depends on the calf, a big charolais calf will stand alot milk/powder but the same amount wouldnt do a smaller breed much good. Batch them up for size and feed accordingly for best results

 

[In the pit]

You do talk some sh!t sometimes.
I'm not questioning that your calves are bigger something in the rearing helps them on but it sure as hell ain't because you feed them exactly the same amount of milk powder just yours is made up in a bit less water.

My point about osmolality would be more relevant in a calf slightly under the weather first and then the risk of scours maybe greater on the strong mix. This is really at the end of marginal gains. It won't produce a pen of bigger calves.

Much bigger at 2 yrs old
You’re the one talking sh!t,use your brain before replying.
If one pen has 6lts at 150 grms per ltr and one pen 6 lts at 200 grms per ltr.
Simple arithmatic
The genetics of calves these days has changed so much over the years but the amount of milk powder(written on every bag ) we feed is still the same as it was 40 years ago

 

[frederick]

Much bigger at 2 yrs old
You’re the one talking sh!t,use your brain before replying.
If one pen has 6lts at 150 grms per ltr and one pen 6 lts at 200 grms per ltr.
Simple arithmatic
The genetics of calves these days has changed so much over the years but the amount of milk powder(written on every bag ) we feed is still the same as it was 40 years ago

But that's not what you said you never said both were fed 6 litres you just said your milk was stronger concentration and other previous post had been referring to feeding 200g and needing to carry less water.
If your feeding 12kg more milk powder to a calf over 42 days I apologize your damned right the calves will be bigger.

 

[Jdunn55]

Much bigger at 2 yrs old
You’re the one talking sh!t,use your brain before replying.
If one pen has 6lts at 150 grms per ltr and one pen 6 lts at 200 grms per ltr.
Simple arithmatic
The genetics of calves these days has changed so much over the years but the amount of milk powder(written on every bag ) we feed is still the same as it was 40 years ago

Unless that extra 50 grams is going straight out the back of the calf and causing water to move from the calf to the stomach therefore burning the calfs energy which could lead to dehydration etc

If you were to feed the same 1200 grams of powder in the bucket but with 8 litres then that would work quite well.

 

[In the pit]

I never said how much I fed just 200 grms per litre
@crashbox was the one who said less water

 

[In the pit]

I started feeding 1kg of powder in 5 litres of water 20 years because I was rearing calves outside from 2 weeks old and the extra milk was for the energy required to keep warm as well as growth
What became of this was heifers at bulling age were 40/50 kgs heavier than they wer before and as such were much bigger at calving and the thing what showed up the most was instead of 93% of the heifers making a second lactation this went upto 98%
Farmers weekly yesterday

 

[In the pit]

This is what I looked at

 

[betweenthelines]

But if you give the calf a high volume of liquid it's more likely to pass through the stomach into the bladder?

A calf suckling it's dam isn't going to take much more that 1 litre per feed, how some people expect it to deal with some of the volumes stated on here is beyond me.

 

[crashbox]

I never said how much I fed just 200 grms per litre
@crashbox was the one who said less water

They look mint

They won't be able to digest all the powder though, a percentage will be wasted. 150g to one litre is more than enough, if you want to feed the same amount of powder just add more water and then it will be digested

It's all to do with diffusion and osmosis of water and the powder moving from an area of high concentration (the milk in the bottle) to an area of low concentration (the stomach lining)
The more powder the bigger the particles that have to pass through the lining
That in turn means that it takes longer and therefore the calf won't be able to digest all the powder. Whereas mixed at 120-150 it moves across quickly so is digested more efficiently

@Jdunn55, complex area.

Powder I use recommends concentrations of 150g/l and 200g/l. But it is a skim-based powder. Mix it too weak and it cannot form a clot in the stomach.

Whey powders have a different digestive mechanism, passing straight through the stomach to be absorbed in the intestine. Perhaps a weaker mix doesn't matter here? I'm not qualified to say.

I give 6l/day @ 200g/l = 1.2kg/day, weaning at 65 days and calves look ripping.

Seen others' calves weaned much earlier and also look great, as low as 42 days, but generally having more whole milk as per @Beef farmer .

 

[Beef farmer]

Once mine go on oad,they get 450g in 3l milk.
Seems I'm massively underfeeding them.