Calf rearing requires some basic know-how like good stockmanship and observation skills. Having good facilities to provide the correct environment and optimum nutrition to meet growth targets are all very important for a successful calf-rearing enterprise.

Colostrum and Stress

While many calves will be purchased at this stage the importance of good colostrum intake and minimising stress cannot be overstated. Check out the history of your calves with the owner. Keep good records and if a batch of calves is prone to disease or sickness, the chances are something went wrong with colostrum at birth. Some larger rearing units have moved to only buying calves on farm off certain farms where they know everything is done right from colostrum to feeding to animal health. Purchasing on-farm will also reduce some stress in calves which can be a precursor for health problems.

Housing

Calves should be housed on a clean, dry bed of straw and they should have access to a good fibre source like hay or straw and also have access to fresh clean water. House design can vary, but from a young age calves are best housed in pens of eight-10 calves. Calves should have 1.5-1.8m2 pen area per calf in calf housing and floor slope should be 1:20. Try to eliminate all low draughts to avoid calves getting cold and make sure there is adequate outlet and inlet ventilation.

Milk replacer feeding

One of the questions that always comes up with calf rearing is: can milk be fed once a day to reduce labour input? Under EU legislation, calves must be fed twice a day. A young calf’s stomach isn’t large enough to deal with the volume of milk that would be required in one feed. Milk should be fed twice a day at the start but after a few weeks when the calf is consuming adequate concentrates, one of the daily feeds can be in the form of concentrates.

Milk replacer can be fed in a number of ways, buckets, multi-teat gate feeders and mobile multi-teat feeders. It’s important at the start to group calves according to age and weight to avoid any bullying. A compartment feeder will help make sure that all calves are drinking the required amount on a daily basis, whether they drink fast or slow.

How much milk replacer?

The dairy beef calf should be consuming 13-15% of its birthweight in milk replacer. The general rule is to mix 125g of milk replacer to one litre of water. This rate will vary according to milk replacer manufacturer guidelines. Some specialist calf rearers have moved to feed up to 900g of milk replacer daily. This higher level of feeding can deliver higher growth rates in calves an also help immune status. In the first 12 weeks of life the target is to get the calf from 40kg to 100kg.

This can be achieved by feeding one bag of milk replacer (25kg) and five bags of concentrates (125kg). If higher levels of milk replacer are fed, weaning weight could go closer to 120kg at 12 weeks. When choosing your milk replacer, choose one with greater than 20% protein content.

The protein source is also important and aim for a milk replacer with a milk protein for the first three weeks of life. These are skim milk powder or whey powder. In general, calf growth rates will be lower from vegetable derived protein sources.

Milk replacer mixing

Mix 125g to 875ml of water to feed one litre of mixed milk at 12.5% solids. Make sure to accurately measure the milk powder and water and always add the milk replacer to the water for easier mixing.

Having water at the correct temperature of 39°C is essential for good mixing. Feeding animals the same concentration at the same time every day will avoid calves gorging milk and also avoid digestive upsets.

Rumen development

The rumen of young calves is very small and milk is digested in the abomasum. If the calf is encouraged to eat concentrates from a young age, the rumen will develop quicker and the calf can reduce its dependence on liquid milk as a feed source.

At 12 weeks of age a calf should have the ability to digest concentrates and have a fully developed rumen. A good-quality calf ration should contain ingredients such as flaked maize, rolled barley, soya bean meal, beet pulp and molasses. Crude protein content should be in excess of 18%.

Oil content can be up to 4% and fibre content should be between 8-10%. Minerals and vitamins are also important and make sure that the calf ration contains sufficient levels of all major and micro minerals and vitamins. By three weeks of age the calf should be consuming small levels of concentrates and hay along with their full complement of milk.

Water intake

Teagasc research has shown that calves that have unrestricted access to clean, fresh water will consume more concentrates from an early age and will have better rumen development. Calves offered water will eat 30-60% more dry feed and will have a 31% higher average daily gain between birth and 10 weeks of age.

Hay and straw

A good fibre source like hay or straw should be made available to calves from three days of age. While feeding hay and straw is important, it’s also important not to over consume roughage with a resultant decrease in concentrate intake.

Chopped forage 3-4cm in length is ideal. Quality is also important as poor-quality, stemmy material will result in poor intakes and calves not being able to digest it.