Milk Calves

[Jdunn55]

They look mint


@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 .

Interesting. I'm just going off what all the "experts" have told me, if your powder says 200 then that's different again! What make is yours?

Admittedly i feed mine at a slightly heavier concentration of between 150-170g per litre but I wouldn't want to go any higher personally. Nor would I want to feed more than 4 litres in a single feed. I was feeding 10 litres over 3 feeds and the calves did grow better but I am unsure if it was economical in truth, especially as they ate less concentrate as they were fuller from milk so weaning took longer as I had to wait for them to be eating 2kg of cake a day, which they are doing by 6-8 weeks on twice a day but when on 3 times a day (even though I dropped the third feed at 6-7 weeks) they wouldn't be eating 2kg of cake until 8-10 weeks.
But they would be20kg heavier at 8 weeks of age.

 

[In the pit]

A lot of you are missing out on the most important thing as regards calf rearing ——-the feed conversion ratio pre weaning is at its greatest and we all need to make use of that!!

 

[Jdunn55]

A lot of you are missing out on the most important thing as regards calf rearing ——-the feed conversion ratio pre weaning is at its greatest and we all need to make use of that!!

Completely agree, I had the same argument with a feed rep who wanted me to only feed 900g of powder

How on earth can you expect growth rates of atleast 1kg a day pre weaning if you're only feeding 900g???!!!

I am feeding the same total amount of powder as you but I'm giving more water with mine basically

 

[frederick]

A lot of you are missing out on the most important thing as regards calf rearing ——-the feed conversion ratio pre weaning is at its greatest and we all need to make use of that!!

This is true and should be taken advantage of but what the sales reps fail to point out it maybe the most efficient but it is also the most expensive. Milk powder 2500 a ton cake 300ish a ton.

If your calves are 10kg heavier at weaning that's handy. However it's going to still be another 660 days before that heifer calves. You only need to improve your heifers diet to achieve an extra 15g a day growth to find those 10kg back by calving

 

[frederick]

How on earth can you expect growth rates of atleast 1kg a day pre weaning if you're only feeding 900g???!!!

It might not be impossible because you are asking 900g of dm to grow 200g dm.

Piglets would be achieving this level of feed conversion.

 

[In the pit]

This is true and should be taken advantage of but what the sales reps fail to point out it maybe the most efficient but it is also the most expensive. Milk powder 2500 a ton cake 300ish a ton.

If your calves are 10kg heavier at weaning that's handy. However it's going to still be another 660 days before that heifer calves. You only need to improve your heifers diet to achieve an extra 15g a day growth to find those 10kg back by calving

Milk powder £1750 a ton here
Finding 50/60 kgs heavier here at weaning which takes a couple of Months to gain back

 

[frederick]

“In its first three months, a calf is fed less than 300 litres of milk, but if left on the dam it can drink 800 litres, so there is a 66% feed restriction.

How early life dairy calf nutrition affects long-term metabolism - Farmers Weekly

Researchers are discovering more about early life programming and how critical this is for adulthood, according to Trouw Nutrition’s Dr Leonel Leal. This

www.fwi.co.uk

 

[frederick]

Milk powder £1750 a ton here
Finding 50/60 kgs heavier here at weaning which takes a couple of Months to gain back

What weight and age are you weaning at. Target I understood was twice birthweight which would be 90-100kg. For yours to be 50kgs heavier you must be looking at 140kgs.

 

[In the pit]

What weight and age are you weaning at. Target I understood was twice birthweight which would be 90-100kg. For yours to be 50kgs heavier you must be looking at 140kgs.

Sorry 50/60 kgs heavier at bulling should have said
Twice birthweight at weaning ,but some are weaning at 6 weeks and others at 10 weeks
I work on weight at 50 days which is normally double birth weight plus any where between 15/30 kgs extra
Trying to do 1.2//1.3 kgs weight gain a day whereas most people would be doing .6//.7 kgs day

 

[In the pit]

Was always told when people used whole milk to rear calves they always grew better than when people used powder ,and that is down to the milk solids of whole milk being a lot high than the powder solids there feeding.milk solids here are at 12.5 so a mix of milk powder needs to be the same solids to get the same growth weght

 

[In the pit]

After weaning always used to get growths a month of 22/25 kgs average of good quality grass and 2 kgs of cake ((some would do over a kilo others below .5 kilo)) and during the hosing period ((calves feb born))would struggle to do .5 kilo growth a day on silage and 2 kgs cake so I always wanted them above target going into housing

 

[Davy]

Seen a video on faceache where the chap was feeding his heifers ad lib on a auto feeder. Going on at 5 days and having unrestricted access, drinking over 20 litres a a day at 125g/l if I remember correctly. Starting to wean down slowly after 20 days

 

[som farmer]

one thing, milk powder, is not the same as whole milk.
nutrients have been extracted, and replaced with something cheaper.

with powder, you get what you pay for. And for some brands, the mixing rate hasn't changed for 50 yrs, but calves certainly have.

 

[betweenthelines]

A lot of you are missing out on the most important thing as regards calf rearing ——-the feed conversion ratio pre weaning is at its greatest and we all need to make use of that!!

But it's diet doesn't have to be milk only up to weaning. Less volume of milk will encourage the calf to eat more meal.

 

[In the pit]

But it's diet doesn't have to be milk only up to weaning. Less volume of milk will encourage the calf to eat more meal.

Put calves down to oad feeding at 4 weeks then cut down milk at week 8 by a third then by another third at the 9 week and then wean at week 10
My first 13 calves are eating a bag of cake aday ((20 kgs)) and they will have this next week on 1.5 lts of milk and the amount of cake they eat will jump a lot
Calves will grow on 150grms a litre but it’s only the basic as that amount is basically a maintanence ration
125 grms a litre is pure and simple starving them

 

[In the pit]

But it's diet doesn't have to be milk only up to weaning. Less volume of milk will encourage the calf to eat more meal.

They will but you just loose out massively on growth potential

 

[In the pit]

A 40 kg calf drinking milk at 20% of body weight is 8 ltrs

 

[zyklon]

Using a automatic calf now this past few months testing different feed plans. Calves on plans that feed 6ltr a day and then some on the 40FIT plan drinking as much as 12ltrs a day etc if they wish. The calves on the 40FIT plan are leaving the other calves behind and more importantly, they give no problems at all. You nearly forget about them.

Now the calves on the less milk intensive plans will give more problems. They are the calves that will look less lively, mess about when drinking, get pneumonia etc and will stay on the feeder longer. Similar to when I was feeding manually which I still do. I also find they will eat more straw and meal at a younger age because they are more hungry which I find hinders their growth rates.

The calves on the more intensive feed plan are just in another league and for me feeding more litres is the way forward. 150g

In the past I tried the once a day feeding but that was a load of nonsense. That’s why it’s called the lazy man’s calf feeding method. Ok for when weaning but no way to rare calves.

 

[frederick]

Using a automatic calf now this past few months testing different feed plans. Calves on plans that feed 6ltr a day and then some on the 40FIT plan drinking as much as 12ltrs a day etc if they wish. The calves on the 40FIT plan are leaving the other calves behind and more importantly, they give no problems at all. You nearly forget about them.

Now the calves on the less milk intensive plans will give more problems. They are the calves that will look less lively, mess about when drinking, get pneumonia etc and will stay on the feeder longer. Similar to when I was feeding manually which I still do. I also find they will eat more straw and meal at a younger age because they are more hungry which I find hinders their growth rates.

The calves on the more intensive feed plan are just in another league and for me feeding more litres is the way forward. 150g

In the past I tried the once a day feeding but that was a load of nonsense. That’s why it’s called the lazy man’s calf feeding method. Ok for when weaning but no way to rare calves.

Oad calf feeding does not have to mean the calf only drinks oad it means you only add the milk oad. When feeding 10 litres a calf they will still have milk available for 12 hours or more at 4 weeks old.

 

[zyklon]

Once a day is feeding only in the morning etc which I have neighbours doing.