Auctus Champion Calf Milk Replacer delivering top results

Thomas O’Neill’s calves are reared on Auctus Champion Calf Milk Replacer each year. Champion Milk replacer is a 23.5% protein, 20% oil and fat and 7% ash content whey-based milk replacer.

Thomas has a spring calving herd based in Burgess, Killeagh, Co. Cork, calving down 90 Friesian cows from February 1 to April 1.

Thomas has been using Champion milk replacer for the past number of years and is “very happy with the health status of the calves and no issues with bloat or coughing in the calf shed”.

Thomas is supplied Champion Milk replacer from his Sales Representative, Bobby McCarthy in AMAC Farm Supplies, Middleton, Co. Cork.

Thomas is calving down 90 cows and plans to rear the majority of the heifer and bull calves.

Once calves are born, they are all given at least four litres of colostrum and put into individual pens.

Here they are given transition milk for six days at a volume of two and a half litres in the morning, and the same in the evening.

Transition milk is fed for six days to give full immunity, as the cows are vaccinated for Rotavirus.

On day seven, the calves are moved into the group pens where they are introduced onto Champion Milk Replacer.

They are fed through an urban computerised feeder with three stations in the calf shed.

The feed curve is setup to feed six litres of Champion Milk Replacer per day at 125g/L over a 70 day period.

Calves are given ad lib access to meal and straw.

First Fibre

First Fibre from Auctus has just been introduced as an extra fibre source for the calves this year.

First Fibre gives the added benefit of the inclusion of alfalfa into the diet. With 70% of the product derived from a fibre source and chopped to a one inch chop length, it is ideal for the calf to consume and promote rumen development from an early age.

The calf shed is regularly cleaned out during the rearing period and Thomas disinfects the pens to reduce the incidence of disease build up in the shed.

As the weather improves, Thomas lets the calves out during the day to get fresh air and to condition the calves to consuming grass.

However, every night he brings the animals back inside onto the straw bed until they are fully weaned and ready to go out full-time.

Thomas puts a big emphasis on weighing calves. He weighs every six weeks when out on grass and makes sure all the animals are on target.

Last year’s calf performance at the start of June 2023 averaged 130kg.

In October of last year (2023), Thomas sold some of the bull calves and they weighed on average 245kg.

In February of this year (2024), heifers for bulling were averaging 300kg in weight and well on target for AI this spring.

Thomas was very happy with these weights considering the wet summer and difficult grazing conditions for calves in 2023.

Thomas’ motto when it comes to calf rearing is “to keep it as simple as possible for as long as possible” and Champion is a core part of this.

All Auctus products are competitively priced and are very much worth considering when choosing your calf milk replacer.

Seamus Whitty

Seamus Whitty came to Auctus with a vast amount of experience, hailing from Taghmon in Co. Wexford and qualified with a degree in agricultural science, graduating from University College Dublin (UCD).

For the past 10 years, Seamus has been working in the south Wexford and Co. Waterford areas for a well respected feed mill, where he also concentrated on selling young animal feed products – namely calf milk replacer.

Seamus has joined Auctus as business development manager to further develop his experience in the agricultural industry, where Auctus has become a very well respected and household brand to a vast number of farmers throughout Ireland, both north and south.

Seamus will be supporting and promoting the Auctus product range in the south of Ireland, covering counties Cork, Waterford, south Tipperary, Wexford, Kilkenny, Laois, Carlow, Kildare and Wicklow.

Seamus will be working with the Auctus merchant and milling customers to make sure products are performing correctly, and product enquiries from farmer customers are looked after.

Auctus

Auctus supply a wide range of animal feedstuffs and animal health products to farmers throughout Ireland.

These include a range of Calf Milk Replacers, e.g., Champion; Opti-mum; Opti-Skim; Turbo Thrive and have the option of adding Lung Guard protection to each product.

The product offering also has: Lamb Power, a lamb milk replacer; Calf & Lamb Superstart, a colostrum replacement range; Nurtitrace, bolus range; Nutrigain, liquid vitamin & mineral range to name but a few.

In order to view the full Auctus product range, just visit our website www.auctus.ie and view our on-line catalogue.

We can also send a full catalogue to you by contacting the office on 043 6683200 or Seamus on the details below.

If you are interested in talking to Seamus on any of the products in the Auctus range, just contact him on 087 4000958 or [email protected]