The once-a-day (OAD) feeding of calves offers a number of benefits to dairy farmers during the spring, when the workload on farms is high.
But before switching calves to a OAD regiment there are a number of factors that need to be considered.
Calves need to be 28-days-old or older, as a calf under than this will be unable to consume the levels of milk required.
It is also important to ensure that any calves that are being moved to OAD feeding are in good health and are showing no signs of ill health.
OAD feeding
The OAD feeding of calves has been shown to reduce the workload by around 36%. It has also been shown to enhance early rumen development, due to increased amounts of concentrates and straw/hay consumed by the calf.
Calves that have been moved onto an OAD feeding programme should have access to ad-lib concentrates, fresh hay and clean water.
The moving of calves to OAD feeding does not mean that your work with these calves is over – you need to continue to monitor these calves twice daily.
The time-saving aspect of OAD feeding comes from the reduced time spent mixing replacer, feeding calves and cleaning equipment.
It is advised that you feed the calves their milk feed in the morning and then offer them concentrates in the evening.
Disbudding
Now may be a good time to start disbudding some of the older calves that were born at the early stages of the calving season.
The disbudding of calves should be completed when the horn is still in the development stage, before the horn becomes attached to the skull.
But the disbudding of calves and moving them onto OAD feeding should not be completed at the same time; at least one week should be left between them.
Doing both at the same time will place increased stress on the calves and will likely result in the suppressing of a calves immune system.
This could then result in an increased amount of sickness within the calves and potentially a number of calves going backwards.