The breeding season on most spring-calving herds has drawn to a close and most farms are now planning for autumn-grazing.

Now that the breeding-season is over, it is a good time to begin planning for the arrival of calves next spring.

The spring-calving season generally starts in mid-January or early February on most farms.

Spring-calving

The arrival of calves onto farms means that these calves need to be fed, the growth of the national herd means that many farms are now feeding more calves than ever before.

Generally, most dairy farm sell excess calves at four weeks of age, but that is still 28 days that these calves need to be fed.

Farmers generally have a 25% replacement rate, so for a 100-cow herd this is 25 calves that need to be fed until they reach target weights.

That is a lot of milk replacer needing to be ferried to calves, especially where there is no access to hot water in the calf shed.

Calf feeding equipment

Could your farm benefit from some calf feeding automation? The use of automatic feeders and milk trolleys has become increasingly popular on farms.

The spring-calving season is a busy time on farms and feeding calves, like milking the cows, has to be done everyday.

With students returning to school and college as the country begin to re-open, after a number of national lockdowns, he help that was around to feed calves may not be there anymore.

Feeding calves

It is important that the calves receive a consistent feed to avoid scouring. This can often be hard to achieve when mixing milk replacer in buckets.

Feeding calves can be time consuming especially if you’re mixing milk replacers by hand to feed the calves.

The use of some calf feeding automation will not only save you time, but also help to improve calf performance due to a more consistent feed.

spring-calving

Assessing

Before purchasing what is an expensive piece of equipment, you should ensure that your current calf shed is suitable for the milk trolley or automatic feeder.

Some older calf sheds will not be suitable for an automatic feeder or milk trolley, so some work may need to be done before the new piece of equipment is purchased.

Before purchasing a milk trolley you should ensure that there is enough space to move the trolley within the shed.

For the automatic feeder you need access to water and drainage. Automatic feeders complete a number of washes per day, so a drain may be required to remove the excess water.

You should also ensure that you have enough cash-flow to make the purchases. These pieces of equipment are expensive and a review of the farm’s accounts should be completed before a purchase is considered.