Getting the management of calves right this autumn is vital for their development and to ensure that growth targets are achieved.
During the rearing period calves, move from being a monogastric to a ruminant animal.
This is where the calf goes from getting most of their nutrients from milk to solid food such as grass/silage/hay or concentrates.
During the first few weeks of life, a young calf is more like a pig than a ruminant or adult cow.
Autumn-calving
The autumn-calving period is ongoing on farms, and although many will have cows calved a number of weeks, there are still in many cases more to calf yet.
Getting the early management of calves right is important for their development and ensures that they can become members of the future milking herd.
During the first weeks of life, a calf is entirely dependent on milk as a source of nutrition, with the digestion of milk occurring in the abomasum.
Young calves have little to no rumen capacity in early life.
Careful nutritional management before weaning ensures that the rumen develops to allow the transition to an entirely solid diet.
Successful weaning is a balancing act between achieving an adequate growth rate and promoting rumen development.
Calf management
To promote rumen development in calves, it is important that they have access to palatable starter concentrates as soon as possible.
They will likely only eat a very small amount for the first few weeks of life.
But providing a small amount every day reduces wastage, encourages calves to eat and allows you to monitor intakes.
Calves fed coarse starter-mixes initially eat more and have greater weight gain than calves fed pelleted starters – the coarseness is also of benefit for the growth of the muscle layers in the rumen wall.
In addition to a ration, calves need to drink water to help ensure bacterial growth.
A calf requires 4-5L of water for every 1kg of concentrates, so provide calves with clean, fresh water at all times.
A source of fibre in the form of straw or hay should also be offered to calves to aid in rumen development.