Calf rearing tips and advice at farmer info event in Co. Longford
Large crowds of farmers gathered at a calf rearing information night that took place in Co. Longford on Thursday evening, January 22.
The event was hosted by Kiernan Milling at its premises on the Ballinalee Road, Granard, Co. Longford, with two speakers present on the night.
The two speakers at the event were veterinary surgeon, Patrick Clerkin and ruminant nutritionist at Kiernan Milling, David Magee.
Magee discussed calf nutrition and advised dairy farmers to feed transition milk to calves for the first four days after they receive their first feed of colostrum.
The table below details the guide calf milk feeding regime as outlined by McGee:
| Calf age | Amount of milk |
|---|---|
| 1-4 days: | Colostrum (transition milk) |
| 5-7 days: | 2L/feed at 260g milk powder |
| Week 2: | 2.5L/feed at 325g milk powder |
| Weeks 3-7: | 3L/feed at 390g milk powder |
| Week 8: | 2L/feed at 260g milk powder |
| Week 9: | 1L/feed at 170g milk powder |
| Week 10: | Weaning |
When mixing up milk powder, McGee said that the milk powder added should make up the volume of milk replacer required as opposed to being added to the volume of water.
He noted that where people often make a mistake is by putting 125-130g of milk powder on top of a litre of water.
He added that the target daily live weight gain for calves in the rearing phase is 750g/day.
Commenting on what to look for in a good milk replacer, he said that soya and wheat flower is not digestible for a calf, and that skim and whey-derived milk protein is more beneficial to them.
He also advised farmers to use pro- and prebiotics when feeding calves before going straight in with antibiotics to treat scours.
Veterinary surgeon, Patrick Clerkin discussed best practice in animal health on dairy calf to beef systems.
He emphasised that the first feed is the most important, saying: "There's no point in spending all the money on vaccines unless you can get that colostrum into that calf because those immunoglobulins are what set that calf up."
Clerkin also said that calves must have access to clean water separate to their daily milk feeds.
He explained that scour is generally caused by one of three factors - parasites, viruses, and bacteria.
The vet added that coccidia and cryptosporidia scours are caused by parasites and are the most common scour causes.
Meanwhile, rotavirus and coronavirus are viral scours and are less common, and salmonella and E. Coli are bacterial scours and are more rare.
The vet also gave farmers advice on dealing with common animal health issues in dairy calf-to-beef systems.
