Calf rearer, Liz Riordan from Newmarket, Co. Cork is extremely satisfied with the calf milk replacer she’s using. Health issues and cases of scours are rare, and calves grow consistently, developing good frames and exceeding target growth rates.
She moved to Cargill’s NeoMilk Beyond Skim two years ago from a reputable brand but embraced the new technology used in making this advanced milk. She said her batches of 100 to 120 beef cross calves that she buys for rearing every spring don’t look back.
When they arrive on the farm at three-to-four weeks old, they go straight on to NeoMilk Beyond, alongside a starter pellet and hay, or haylage, and fresh water. The milk is fed morning and evening with 350g of powder mixed in two litres of water at each feed.
Liz feeds a moderate accelerated programme to get the benefits of high growth rates whilst promoting dry feed intake. “I want to encourage dry feed intake too and not fill the calves with liquid,” says Liz, who adds that the milk mixes very easily and there are never lumps. “We feed it from teat feeders so we can see that all the calves are feeding well.”
More importantly, her calves have shiny coats, they’re content and Liz has noticed that after they’ve had their milk, they lie down and are settled.
“I’m also pleased that cases of scours or health setbacks are rare. We never had many problems, but ideally you don’t want any. It wears the calves out and they rarely catch up.”
Calves are weaned off the milk just before turnout at 12 weeks old. They’re then sold to a finishing unit around one year old.
Liz weighs the cattle at this stage, and she has been pleasantly surprised at average weights of 360kg for heifers and between 380kg and 400kg for bull calves since she introduced NeoMilk.
“I also weighed the younger calves when I started using the NeoMilk to make sure it was working – I’ve used a few milk replacers and they don’t all result in the weight gains they should. But I found with this one we were achieving gains well over the 0.7kg a day target and in many cases, calves were achieving 1kg a day consistently,” Riordan said.
Liz has Noel Feely of Kellihers Feed & Agri Supplies to thank for introducing her to NeoMilk:“He thought it would work well here and we trusted him as he’s been very reliable with all our other rations. And he was right with this one too.
“I also like the new knowledge that Cargill has used in developing NeoMilk regarding protein and amino acid availability, and the support for the immune systems – it makes sense and it’s certainly improving performance in a cost-effective way here.
“And at the end of the day, when our buyers see the cattle, they’re very impressed and that’s what counts too,” she continued.
Making the right milk replacer choice
Cargill has designed its latest milk replacers to suit a range of systems.
The NeoMilk range has amore precise balance of amino acids, with less waste protein, making the diets more sustainable and with a favourable environmental impact, than more typical calf milk replacers.
The range includes newly-designed additives with the required range of fatty acids. Each milk also has specialist feed additives to support gut health and support a healthy immune system.
Carefully designed formulations to suit target growth rates, beef or dairy and disease challenge determine the differences in the three NeoMilks on offer.
NeoMilk Prime is a whey-based milk designed for beef calves where daily weight gain is the priority.
Neomilk Boost is available as a whey or skim formulation designed for dairy replacements where lean growth and weight gain are important. Target daily weight gain for calves on Boost is between 750g and 850g, and suits systems with few disease and health challenges.
NeoMilk Beyond is also available as a whey or skim-based option, and it has the highest ingredient specification. It is designed for rearing heifer calves where lean growth and weight gain are important. Daily growth rates of between 900g and 1.1kg are targeted.
This milk includes a postbiotic that offers extra support for the immune system, making it ideal for rearing bought-in dairy calves, and for systems where additional protection from disease and health challenges is required.
Starter feed is complementary, it is not an add-on.
Calf milks are an important part of rumen development, but they can’t achieve growth targets without a diet that includes a quality, palatable and fresh starter feed
Follow-on milk and starter feed should be available simultaneously from day one, to encourage good rumen development as the calf progresses from monogastic to ruminant.
“Calves, regardless of age, must learn to eat starter feed to promote rumen development, so that when they are weaned, and the diet moves on to 100% solid feed, they are well prepared and less likely to face setbacks.
“This, along with ad lib fresh clean water and high management standards, will get calves off to a good start, and support lifetime performance,” Riordan said,
Reimaging protein in calf diets
Amino acid nutrition for young calves is complex, because calves begin their lives as monogastrics and use amino acids from the milk or milk replacer they consume.
Their digestion then changes to that of a ruminant, and their source of amino acids for maintenance and growth requirements comes from a combination of undegraded dietary and microbial protein.
According to technology application specialist at Cargill, Bianca Theeruth: “Analysing just crude protein is an outdated way to approach calf nutrition.
“How we feed calves today is becoming more in line with how we feed dairy cows. It will become more nutrient-based, and less ingredient-based.”
The amino acid profile of milk proteins is different from those in undegraded dietary proteins and microbial proteins.
Research work has shown a clear increase in the percent of microbial protein production as a percent of total protein production in the intestine as starter feed intakes increase, and after weaning when the diet is totally dry feed. This alters the amount of each amino acid reaching the intestine and affects growth predictions.
“This transition from monogastric digestion to ruminant fermentation and digestion in the first eight-to-12 weeks of age makes the prediction of amino acid flow, in this critical period, extremely challenging,” says Ms. Theeruth.
“We have models to estimate amino acid flow for monogastrics and for ruminants. When it comes to those transitioning from one to the other there is more we can learn. Calculating the amino acid requirement of a young calf is relatively complicated compared with the adult ruminant,” she explained.
Cargill has used its knowledge of amino acid profiles in the development of the NeoMilk range of calf milk replacers. The company will continue to focus on this area and use its knowledge to develop models to predict the amino acid flow.
“This ‘deeper’ knowledge, beyond surface-level crude protein values, will be critical in developing more precise rations for growth stages. These will result in less waste, more accurate protein values and improved cost-efficiencies,” she said.
For more information on NeoMilk, contact:
Micharel Luttrell: +353 (86) 254 8827
Gordon Richardson (Northern Ireland): +353 (87) 619 1616
