Sammy is from a beef and sheep farm in the hills of the Rossendale valley, and although lambing time is her favourite time of year, dairy calves now generally occupy her attention for the other 50 weeks of the year! Her interest in dairy farming was sparked during a one-year work placement whilst studying for her degree, BSc Hons Animal Behaviour and Welfare, at Harper Adams University. She was based on a large dairy farm in West Sussex carrying out a research project and getting to grips with the day to day workings of the farm.
Sammy went onto work for a progressive farm animal vets practice as a Veterinary Technician after University, where she has developed a greater knowledge of the health and production aspects of dairy farming, in particular, successful calf rearing. Having seen many calf rearing systems, she has an excellent understanding of the importance of setting clear goals and getting things right from the start to ensure healthy and profitable animals.
Energy demand for any dairy animal depends on their specific requirement for; maintenance, reproduction, milk production and body reserves. Whilst our mature cows are pregnant their energy demand is focussed on maintenance and foetal growth.
Reduced calving age from one year to the next may suggest improved calf and heifer rearing; however it is months later when we can make these assumptions. If a heifer is first served at 18 months old, it can be assumed that there are improvements to be made to allow future heifers to reach service weight earlier. But it is difficult at this point to then determine at which stage of rearing that this heifer didn’t meet her targets and fell behind.
Prepare yourself for summer and take a read about the different effects that parasites have on your youngstock and what can be done to reduce the risk both for internal and external parasites.
Copper and Selenium/Vitamin E are important trace elements for cattle that have a big impact on performance. Deficiencies in these elements are often exaggerated by malnutrition, poor husbandry, and ineffective parasite control.
Weighing calves on an electronic scale sounds like good practice – but who has got time for that?! I caught up with a couple of dairy farmers who have bought an electronic scale within the last 12 months to ask their thoughts so far on using it.
Far too often calf rearers get caught up blaming “uncontrollable factors”, mainly the weather, for poor growth rates or poor health in their calves. But arguably, doing a better job of things that are within our control would produce a stronger calf able to deal with additional challenges.
