Calves with Sam

Don't Forget Coccidia

A client called me last Friday. "We are thinking about feeding pasteurized waste milk to our calves rather than milk replacer."

I stopped at the farm later in the day. Four of us talked about the ways to handle the milk, where to locate tanks, pasteurizer and other issues. 

Before I left I pulled a tag from a bag of milk replacer. 

Lasalocid and diflubenzuron were listed on the tag. The names you may recognize are Bovatec and ClariFly.

I asked about how these control chemicals were going to be fed to the calves. Well, that never occurred to anyone but me.

So, if you are thinking about moving from a manufactured product that includes control compounds some thought needs to be given to how the same controls will be handled with the pasteurized milk product. Coccidia, especially, don't go on vacation just because we feed whole milk.