Milk Calves

[som farmer]

RT say you have to feed calves x2 a day.

vet was looking at our calves, saying how well they looked, told 2 litres x2 a day, her comment, RT say min 2.5 litres x2 day, do the calves look all right ? Yes, but you are not feeding them enough, 'do you think the calves could look any better ? No, but ................... Foreign young lady vet. must have been reading RT handbook, word for word.

she came to do a pd session, and she wasn't very accurate on that either, a subject senior vets didn't want to discuss !

 

[crashbox]

Had automatic calf feeder. Hated it! But then I was on AYR calf rearing which I also do not like.

Batches on 20 teat milk bar now

 

[In the pit]

RT say you have to feed calves x2 a day.

vet was looking at our calves, saying how well they looked, told 2 litres x2 a day, her comment, RT say min 2.5 litres x2 day, do the calves look all right ? Yes, but you are not feeding them enough, 'do you think the calves could look any better ? No, but ................... Foreign young lady vet. must have been reading RT handbook, word for word.

she came to do a pd session, and she wasn't very accurate on that either, a subject senior vets didn't want to discuss !

Milk morning ,straw/pellets afternoon
Fed x2 end off

 

[Jdunn55]

RT say you have to feed calves x2 a day.

vet was looking at our calves, saying how well they looked, told 2 litres x2 a day, her comment, RT say min 2.5 litres x2 day, do the calves look all right ? Yes, but you are not feeding them enough, 'do you think the calves could look any better ? No, but ................... Foreign young lady vet. must have been reading RT handbook, word for word.

she came to do a pd session, and she wasn't very accurate on that either, a subject senior vets didn't want to discuss !

You can feed once a day with red tractor as long as its Ad-lib

What they don't want is to turn up at lunch time and find that 2 week old calves have no milk and aren't going to be given any milk until the next morning. Which tbf I think is understandable

And that's coming from me who despises red tractor and would like nothing but to dismantle the organisation limb from limb

 

[In the pit]

Red tractor rules

 

[Jdunn55]

Red tractor rules

If the calf drinks 5 litres at 9am and then goes and drinks 2 litres at 1pm that counts as two feeds, so ad-lib once a day is ok

 

[In the pit]

If the calf drinks 5 litres at 9am and then goes and drinks 2 litres at 1pm that counts as two feeds, so ad-lib once a day is ok

 

[MrA.G.]

With such a variation in powder prices you could feed 40% more of a cheap whey powder compared to a skim powder so like for like powder costs but which way would produce the better growth.

Those of you who feed circa 10 litres once a day where milk is available most of the day, do you generally use a cheaper whey or lower powder feed rate?

 

[zyklon]

With such a variation in powder prices you could feed 40% more of a cheap whey powder compared to a skim powder so like for like powder costs but which way would produce the better growth.

Those of you who feed circa 10 litres once a day where milk is available most of the day, do you generally use a cheaper whey or lower powder feed rate?

The calves on my machine feeding up to 12ltrs a day are on a whey milk costing me £40 per 20kg bag. Used to use a more expensive milk two years ago and no difference to justify price.

 

[crashbox]

With such a variation in powder prices you could feed 40% more of a cheap whey powder compared to a skim powder so like for like powder costs but which way would produce the better growth.

Those of you who feed circa 10 litres once a day where milk is available most of the day, do you generally use a cheaper whey or lower powder feed rate?

I tendered powder this year and not much difference between whey only and skim/whey powder prices.

Cheaper powders often rely on higher proportion of vegetable proteins which are less digestible in calves <3 weeks old.

But ultimately if what you're doing works well, can't knock it.

How to feed milk and milk replacer | AHDB

All you need to know about feeding whole milk or milk replacer to dairy calves.

ahdb.org.uk

 

[Farmeraduk]

Anyone using Bovalto intra nasal vaccine? August-October calves.
Seem to have lots of coughing? Wet year?

 

[som farmer]

Anyone using Bovalto intra nasal vaccine? August-October calves.
Seem to have lots of coughing? Wet year?

used it last year, and pleased.
using it again this yr, vet tech calls in once a week and does them.
similar with dehorning, vet tech.

vaccination is one of those things, once started, and happy with it, somewhat worried about what happens, if you stop. Just like silage additive !

 

[Princess Pooper]

Anyone using Bovalto intra nasal vaccine? August-October calves.
Seem to have lots of coughing? Wet year?

Use it every year.

 

[Farmeraduk]

Thanks, just ordered

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

Anyone using Bovalto intra nasal vaccine? August-October calves.
Seem to have lots of coughing? Wet year?

Worth getting some nasal swabs done first. You might be vaccinating against something you don’t have on far and a different vaccine would be more appropriate. We found this last year and changed the vaccine we now use to cover the challenges we have on farm. Went from Ripoval intranasal to Bovalto Respi 4. Seems to be working better so far

 

[crashbox]

Anyone using Bovalto intra nasal vaccine? August-October calves.
Seem to have lots of coughing? Wet year?

Yes, we use it.

Still get plenty of pneumonia issues, not sure how much worse it would be without the vaccine.

Big airy shed, ventilation tube, vet says it's "too airy", but on a still day it's "too still".

 

[som farmer]

Yes, we use it.

Still get plenty of pneumonia issues, not sure how much worse it would be without the vaccine.

Big airy shed, ventilation tube, vet says it's "too airy", but on a still day it's "too still".

used it last year, for the first time, and again this year, pleased ? Don't really know, nothing to compare it with ! But hope its

there's a bit more coughing than l would like to hear, but the weather is crap.

great believer in lots of fresh air, as long as the calves are not in a draught, and have plenty of straw to nest down in, we do put some baffles every few pens, we still individually pen ours.

if its a really cold wind/spell, we do up the amount of feed we give them, they use more energy keeping warm, so we allow for that.

 

[HarryB97]

Anyone using Bovalto intra nasal vaccine? August-October calves.
Seem to have lots of coughing? Wet year?

With all these pneumonia vaccines you will still get issues but as young calves are so delicate I think it’s still worth doing. However, I do find vaccines mask the symptoms so issues are harder to spot.

 

[som farmer]

the trouble is, once you start, you don't want to stop, 'just in case'.

but this weather is the pits, for rearing calves, everything is just damp, even the air movement. Need to be extra vigilant to catch anything wrong, with a calf, to stop it spreading.

a nice dry spell now, would be a help, colder the better, kill off a few germs, with a little bit of luck.

 

[ollie989898]

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

I do love to see calves thriving and in groups. There is no doubt it is easier for man and beast. Good stockmanship of course is needed to identify any that are unwell or below par so they can be segregated out. Those look grand.

Interesting thread, I do like all the science being discussed. All way over my head now, though I recall being told years ago that calves cannot readily digest vegetable protein until later in life.

Interested to read the theory on whey vs skim and the 'correct' concentration to feed the milk replacer in.

I'm not sure ADHB or RT are really sources of technical information the industry should be relying on. You dairy boys can surely do much much better and should be given a lot more up to the minute information. Given how critical milk replacers are and the cost of them, I would like to think that the manufacturers were drilling the necessary technical information into the people selling it.