Getting it right for calves from day one

Sara, along with her husband Stu, share milk 750 Jerseys in Mid Canterbury. Both Sara and Stu come from strong dairy farming back grounds with Sara having the honour of being a Dairy NZ Environment Leader and has also achieved Synlait Lead with Pride Elite Standard on their farm.

Sara rears approximately 250 heifer replacements and has been using Maximize Calf Pellets as part of her calf rearing system.

Sara offers Maximize Calf Pellets to the calves from day one. Calves receive a small amount regularly, which is kept fresh daily to encourage consumption. Calves are also offered adlib straw, bentonite, and always have access to clean fresh water.

Maximize Calf Pellets is a calf feed designed to promote skeletal growth and lean muscle mass development in calves, alongside encouraging healthy rumen development. “I noticed the calves grew differently, they grew the frame first, Maximize Calf Pellets allowed the skeleton to grow. Calves had no pot bellies and I could see muscle definition,” Sara says.

“I have seen excellent rumen capacity formation and have noticed a better feed conversion efficiency once weaned when comparing volume of dry matter offered to achieve target growth rates in previous seasons.

“Calves also retained consistent growth rates once weaned, growing an average 1.5kg/day two weeks post weaning calves had no post milk weaning weight loss occurrence and calves maintained appetite.”

In past seasons Sara has used several different calf feeds but found that they did not allow the calves to perform to expectations, nor justify the cost, and always resulted in using higher tonnages while achieving targets later than anticipated.

“They (calves) also took longer to get on the feed… I also don’t bother starting with muesli because I don’t find it beneficial to getting the calves on to meal later on.”

When trialling Maximize Calf Pellets, the calf pellets were placed in the same trough as another product sample bag. “The Maximize Calf Pellets were polished clean and the other feed wasn’t touched. It was the quickest calf feed uptake I’ve experienced.”

Not only did the calves take to Maximize Calf Pellets but Sara used “20% less calf feed than previous seasons” using other products and achieved target two weeks earlier.

“DBC also met our environmental expectations by being able to deliver in bulk into our calf feed silo…, flows well out of the silo without bridging and was easy using a blower truck… it all made long term planning easier.”

DBC’s Maximize Calf Pellets feed was the only thing that Sara changed in her system other than changing disinfectant to Stalosan® F Powder under recommendations by her DBC field specialist, Charlotte Flay. “Stalosan® F disinfectant powder is easier to use, and we loved how it kept the pens dry, much better than liquid disinfectant,” Sara says.

DBC field specialist, Charlotte Flay says the Dairy Business Centre aim to provide products and services that will not only benefit the calf but will benefit the farmer. “DBC’s passion in the industry lies in being able to help farmers grow and succeed in their herds nutritional goals resulting in improved overall animal health and performance,” Charlotte says.