A Co. Tyrone dairy farm has reduced calf mortality to just 1% and has no post-weaning growth checks, thanks to a series of protocols including a system of nutrition that incorporates transition milk replacer and once-a-day feeding.
Father and son Kenny and Kyle McIlwaine run a crossbred dairy herd of Fleckvieh x Holsteins and Montbeliard x Holsteins near Newtownstewart, producing milk at an annual average yield of 9,000L/cow from a twice a day milking.
Genomics allows the business to identify the best cows and heifers to breed replacements from.
“This means fewer guesses and more accurate breeding and management decisions,’’ said Kenny.
Cows are vaccinated at drying off for the main scour-causing pathogens – rotavirus, coronavirus and e.coli – to protect their calves at their most vulnerable in the first few weeks of life.
Administering that vaccination approximately eight weeks before calving is ideal, says Dr. Amanda Dunn, of Bonanza Calf Nutrition.
“It gives the cow enough time to mount an immune response to the vaccine so that she can pass these antibodies on in her colostrum to protect the calf,’’ she explained.
Calving gets underway at the beginning of September with the last of the herd calving in March, with calf birthweights of 40kg or heavier.
In the 2023/2024 calving season, several sets of twins and a set of quadruplets saw 160 cows produce 170 calves.
Around 60 replacement heifers are retained while bull calves are sold at approximately a month of age. Nutrition for bull and heifer calves is identical.
As soon as a cow calves, she is milked and her calf is manually fed a minimum of 4L of her colostrum.
“If they want to drink more, they will get it,’’ Kenny added.
The first five feeds for all calves is their dam’s colostrum.
Calves are grouped in batches of six and fed milk via a compartmentalised teat bar feeder.
Following colostrum feeding, they receive Transformula, a transition milk replacer manufactured by Bonanza Calf Nutrition.
“We feed Transformula for the first three weeks to get them over the highest scour risk period,’’ Kyle said.
Calves consume 3.5L morning and evening, mixed at a rate of 140g/L to replicate cow transition milk.
Amanda advises that transition milk feeding is a very important source of nutrition, providing bioactive ingredients which have an important role to play in the maturation of a calf’s gastrointestinal tract.
“It is exactly what nature intended for transitioning the calf from rich colostrum to whole milk,’’ she said.
Calves are offered clean water and fresh concentrates from three to four-days-of-age. Feed-quality straw is also available. All calves are vaccinated for respiratory diseases from 10-days-of-age.
At three-weeks-old, the calf diet switches to another of Bonanza Calf Nutrition’s milk replacers, Shine Original.
This is initially fed twice a day, but once calves are strong, it is given once a day at a rate of 4L mixed at 200g/L until day 60.
“The calves are fed at 8am every morning and then they have the rest of the day to pick at meal and straw,’’ says Kyle.
Shine Original is formulated using high quality low-heat skim and buttermilk.
Amanda emphasised that the quality of ingredients in a feed will determine calf performance.
“High-heat skim and low-heat skim are as different as day and night. Low-heat skim will form a solid clot in the calf’s stomach to allow for slow digestion and once a day feeding, while high-heat skim will only form a loose clot,” she explained.
At weaning calves, will be eating a minimum of 2.5kg of ration.
“I put that down to the once a day feeding. Calves are as content and satisfied as can be, even when younger calves in a neighbouring pen are getting fed twice a day,” Kenny said.
Rumen development has an important role to play in continued growth and health performance post-weaning.
“Calves can only digest milk in their abomasum when they are born and it takes time for them to become a functional ruminant that can digest and utilise dry feed.
“We must remember that this takes time and the earlier that calves have access to dry feed the sooner they will start exploring it and eating it,” Amanda added.
Post-weaning, calves continue to receive ad-lib concentrates until turnout to grazing, mostly in April or May, depending on weather conditions. At grass, they receive 2.5kg of concentrates.
Calf mortality
Kenny and Kyle were introduced to Transformula and Shine Original seven years ago and have fed these ever since, purchasing both milk replacer and concentrates from their local merchant, Taggart Jack in Ardstraw.
“I wouldn’t not feed Transformula. From a calf health perspective the results since feeding it have been second to none with no bother with calf scours or respiratory issues.
“Last season we only lost two calves out of the batch – a 1% mortality rate,” Kenny said.
Feeding sufficient colostrum within the first couple of hours of birth and continued feeding of colostrum and transition milk replacer up to three-weeks-of-age is a “recipe for success’’ for calf health, according to Amanda.
“Both these feeds contain a wealth of valuable ingredients which promote the calf’s developing immune system, and protect its gut from harmful scour causing pathogens,” she added.
Prior to feeding calves once a day, the Mcllwaines had an automatic calf feeder but have found switching back to manual feeding is favourable for their herd, achieving consistent results.
“I don’t know why anyone would feed calves twice a day when calves perform so well on once a day feeding once they reach about one month of age,’’ said Kenny.
The benefits of feeding calves once a day is evident in the end result.
“At weaning you have a calf that knows how to eat concentrates so it will go on to thrive post-weaning without any growth checks once the milk has been removed from its diet,” he said.
For Kenny and Kyle, a combination of providing the best ingredients for gut development and stimulating the immune system in the early weeks, when the calf’s own immune system is kicking in, and a feeding system that allows for dry feed intake and success post-weaning, is a “win-win’’ for rearing healthy animals and meeting their target age at first calving of 24 months.
