Weaning Age and Intensive Milk Feeding Programs

Field experience and research trials have demonstrated the effect of intensive milk feeding programs for dairy replacement heifer calves on the timing of calf starter grain intake. As milk intake goes up the starter grain intake is delayed.

The research reported here looked at delaying weaning of intensively milk fed calves from 60 to 75 days.  The intensive program for calves weaned at 60 days was 4 liters/day on days 3-10, 6 liters/day on days 11-20, 8.5 liters/day on days 21-55, decreased to 4/25 liters/day on days 56-60 (total of 411 liters).

The intensive program for calves weaned at 75 days was 4 liters/day on days 3-10, increased to 6 liters/day on days 11-70, decreased to 3 liters/day on days 71/75 (total 407 liters).

They compared these groups using these measures at 90 days:

Average daily gain

Feed efficiency

Final body weight

The 75-day weaned heifers when compared to the the 60-day weaned heifers were  higher on all three comparison measures.

In my reading of these results I see the advantage of getting more adequate rumen development in the 75-day heifers. This is one of the first studies I can recall that compared feed efficiency. However, few dairies will wait to wean at 75 days. 

A practical alternative would be to modify their 60-day protocol to look like this:

4 L/day on days 3-10

6 L/day on days 11-14

8 L/day on days 15-35

4 L/day on days 36-60

In order to save labor I fed the 4 L/day on days 36-60 once a day, with free choice water and calf starter grain.

My experience with this protocol regarding starter grain intake was initial grain intake greater than 1 cup (110-115g) daily did not start until about 21 days. With high milk feeding the grain intake stayed low until I dropped the milk back to 4 L/d at 36 days - then the calves had a steady upward trend on grain intake until they were eating 4-5 pounds (2-2.25kg) a day by 60 days.

Reference: M. Mirzael and Others, "Effects of preweaning total plane of milk intake and weaning age on intake, growth performance, and blood metabolites of dairy calves." Journal of Dairy Science 101:4212-4220 May 2018

Hay for Preweaned Calves

An interesting article in the Irish Farmers Journal, "Dairy Calf to Beef: Rearing Tips," included some advice regarding providing fiber for preweaned calves. 

Recall in this Irish tradition that dairymen have "always" fed straw to preweaned calves. In my experience this traditionally was fed a long straw in a rack in a group pen. 

The initial mention is in the context of 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."

The author concludes:

"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 (1-1.5 inches) 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."

[Emphasis added, ed.]

Reference: Wood, Adam "Dairy Calf to Beef: Rearing Tips" Irish Farmers Journal 28April2018 page 40

More Evidence on Tube vs. Bottle feeding of Colostrum

Work of a Canadian group focused on movement of colostrum through the G-I tract when feeding 3L of colostrum. They compared outcomes when colostrum was fed with a nursing bottle or an esophageal tube feeder.

The outcomes are summarized:

" Therefore, even if colostrum enters the rumen when fed with an esophageal tube, when a large enough volume of good quality colostrum is delivered, the IgG in the colostrum that reaches the small intestine could be sufficient to saturate the receptors and meet maximal absorption of IgG." page 4173.

As a by-product of their work the results emphasized that early feeding of high quality colostrum in adequate quantity can result in very desirable levels of antibody transfer. Compared to the "usual" levels of efficiency of antibody transfer (around 35%), these calves had 50% efficiency of antibody transfer.

Desjardins-Morrissette, M. and Others, "The effect of tube versus bottle feeding colostrum on immunoglobulin G absorption, abomasal emptying, and plasma hormone concentrations in newborn calves" Journal of Dairy Science 101:4168-4179 May 2018.

Calf Notes - A Site to Bookmark

The site URL is www.calfnotes.com.

Dr. Jim Quigley has been adding CalfNotes to this site for 23 years - lots of resources. Available in English, Spanish, Chinese and now he is adding notes in Portuguese.

The CalfNotes are grouped like this:

• colostrum feeding
• milk & milk replacers
• calf starters
• health management
• weaning
• housing
• older heifers
• primer in calf nutrition
• entire list of 200 CalfNotes in numeric order

Enjoy!

Colostrum Council Post on Oligosaccharides in Colostrum

In their April 5 post the Colostrum Council [proprietary newsletter of Saskatoon Colostrum Company, Ltd.] Amanda Fischer

• describes the naturally occurring oligosaccharides in colostrum
• explains their role in gut health
• describes the role of mannan-oligosaccharides in gut health and
• cautions us about adding mannan-oligosaccharides to colostrum

Well-written review of technical content that also does a good job of explaining why feeding transition milk (2,3, 4th milking) promotes good gut health.

The post is at this URL if you want to copy it to your browser:

https://i.emlfiles4.com/cmpdoc/6/9/7/7/2/1/files/50236_the-colostrum-counsel---mar-2018.pdf?utm_campaign=1147644_March%202018%20Colostrum%20Counsel&utm_medium=email&utm_source=AltaGenetics&dm_i=2QLW,OLJ0,3XQH7V,2IOWM,1

or try clicking HERE 

Calfcare.ca

Have you visited this site? http://calfcare.ca/ is the URL or click HERE.

The drop down menus include:

• Newborn care
• Colostrum management
• Feeding
• Housing

Recent posts?

• Neonatal calf diarrhea
• Conditions for Management Group Housed Calves
• Is bloat causing sudden death in  your calves?
• Is your colostrum management working? (tips for using refractometers)

Enjoy!

Late Winter-Spring Scours in Calves

This is the title of April 2018 calf management newsletter. Click HERE to go to the newsletter. Enjoy.

The main points:

·        Wide variation among dairies during late winter – spring season for scours treatment rates among preweaned calves.

·        How can management affect scours treatment rates?

·        What is the right scours treatment rate among preweaned calves for my dairy?

If you know of a person that would like to receive a monthly e-mail when the new issue is posted on-line send an e-mail to smleadley@yahoo.com to be added to this service. If a dairy wants to receive a hard copy to share with calf care folks send the mailing address to the same e-mail address.