Calves with Sam

Feeding Enough Colostrum to Meet

Energy Needs for First 24 Hours

Mike VanAmburg (Cornell) gave a nice summary of energy needs of dairy calves during their first 24 hours of life. in his presentation at the national Dairy Calf and Heifer Association meetings at Madison WI in April, 2017.

This is his statement:

"Also, colostrum is the first meal and accordingly it very important in establishing the nutrient supply needed to maintain the calf over the first day of life. ... We tend to underestimate the nutrient requirements of the calf, especially for maintenance."

"For example, a newborn Holstein calf at 85 lbs. birth weight has a maintenance requirement of approximately 1.55 Mcal ME (megacalories metabolizable energy) at 72 degrees F. "

He continues, "For comparison, if the ambient temperature  is 32 degrees F the ME requirements for maintenance is 2.4 Mcal."

By my calculations if a calf is only fed 2 quarts of colostrum her first feeding (2.6 Mcal) she will not have much energy left for growth even in summer. Winter weather challenges her to just stay alive on the energy in two quarts of colostrum.

The message to me is to plan in getting at least 4 quarts colostrum into our newborn calves in the first 12 hours with the first feeding preferred in the first 4 hours.