The Wynnstay Calf and Youngstock section of the AgriHub is written by specialist in the field. Our lambing news and advice is created to prepare you for the lambing season, making sure that not only is you lambing shed ready but also both lamb and ewe health is managed.
Our team of calf specialists are highly experienced in the field of calf rearing, their blog posts offer calf rearing advice and news for both dairy and beef farmers. Our calf news section looks at calf housing, feeding and health. It also offer advice on how to improve profits and margins on farm.
Finishing time contributes to profitability and sustainability of the UK beef market. As an industry we should be utilising cattle efficiencies and look to get them finished quicker as they become poorer at feed conversion.
Rearing dairy heifers from birth to first calving can be costly, but they are the future of the herd and it is important to get right. The aim is to inseminate heifers at 14- 15 months old to be calving down at 24 months.
In cattle, puberty is dependent on weight not age - with puberty beginning when a heifer reaches 40% of its mature body weight. Heifers which have shown heat at least twice before insemination for the first time at 15 months have the best fertility and the best chance of getting pregnant.
The average dairy calf faces many potential stressors in the preweaning period including birth, transportation, disbudding/castration, weaning and mixing.
Most of these stressors are inevitable in calf rearing production systems but are manageable if the calf timeline is considered.
When discussing colostrum management, attention is often focused on the calf. However, to produce a quality-first feed we need to begin with the cow in her transition period. Dam colostrum contains farm-specific antibodies making it so valuable to the calves on that farm, providing protection against the pathogens, they are most likely to encounter.
It is well known that the early introduction of starter feed is essential for rumen development, but often forage is not offered until close to or post-weaning. Many recent studies have shown that offering forage during the pre-weaning phase has benefits in pre-weaning growth rates as well as aiding the transition from a milk-based diet to solid feed.
Early turnout to grass can be hugely beneficial in terms of improving daily liveweight gain and calf health whilst also reducing rearing costs. However, the turnout phase is again another time in the calves lives where we are introducing them to a new environment, therefore there are a few things we can do to make this time a little less stressful.
A hot topic among many farmers and vets is the issue of Mycoplasma. With New Zealand enforcing an aggressive culling policy on infected cows it raises the questions; do we know enough about it? Are we being proactive? So it goes without saying that prevention is better than a cure, especially when discussing calf health and performance.
The importance of colostrum has been well documented, however that we feed calves is often overlooked. With colostrum being so crucial for the future productivity and survivability of the calf, why should we guess or compromise on the quality we put into them.
The quality of colostrum can vary greatly from cow to cow with numerous factors such as: parity, nutrition and breed all influencing colostrum quality. Quality of colostrum cannot be identified from sight alone! Measuring colostrum quality ensures calves get the best possible start in life.
The market is saturated with different milk powders, all with their own niche selling point and most of them promise to provide you with the solution you are looking for (whatever that may be!) I think it is fair to say many farmers look at the oil and protein levels stated on the bag, followed by price per tonne and end up making a relatively uninformed decision.
Having colostrum accessible to calves is imperative to the colostrum feeding program. For reasons such as the cow cannot produce enough colostrum, Colostrum is of low quality, or the freshly calved Cow has not been milked within hours of giving birth. Calves are essentially born with little to no immunity. Therefore, the quality of colostrum is essential for disease prevention during the first weeks of a calf’s life.
