SPRING CALVING
Achieving full calf potential By Ross Nolly
Planning ahead and being prepared gives calves the best possible chance to ensure they achieve their potential.
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ith many farmers now calving, attendees at the Dairy Women’s Network Calf Rearing Expo should be well placed to ensure they have a good calf rearing season. SealesWinslow nutrition and quality manager Natalie Hughes was one of the presenters at the expo and spoke about successful calf rearing, which she says starts before the calf is born. “It all starts before day one of the calf’s life. Planning and preparation before calving sets us up for a successful season. Knowing the “what and how” of our own calf system with the latest tips and tricks, takes some of the weight off when calves hit the ground,” Hughes says. Hughes feels that it’s all about what farmers do today and the impact they have on what’s coming into the herd later on. “Prior preparation prevents piss-poor performance,” she says. “If you don’t plan, you plan to fail. No matter what you do, you need some targets. They help draw the team together because they know exactly what they’re working on.”
SealesWinslow nutrition and quality manager Natalie Hughes was one of the presenters at the Dairy Women’s Network Calf Rearing Expos talking about successful calf rearing.
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Calf rearing Not every farm has a purpose-built calf shed and Hughes began by looking at ways that farmers can effectively set up their calf shed. She believes that a purpose-built calf shed should be twice as deep as each bay’s width, so that the calves can hide in the back from any inclement weather. “The standard space requirement is 1.5-2.5m2 for each calf. Jersey calves will need a little less than 2.5m2. But if you have big Holstein genetics in your herd, then you’ll need more than 2.5m2 to allow them to run, play and interact,” she says. “We always run out of space at home and I assume other people have the same issue. But we still have to ensure that each calf has access to the available feed.” Hughes reminded the attendees that they needed solid, easily cleaned partitions between each pen to provide separation between the groups and prevent the transfer of disease. “There is a gold standard to what we want to achieve, and then there’s stuff that’s practical. What is practical is not always going to be science-backed, but realistically we’ve got to make what works for us in our systems,” she says. She illustrated the point with an image of a calf shed where the farmers had attached old real estate signs on the fences between the pens to provide 1.2-metre high, solid partitions for the time that the calves were in the shed.
Hughes also emphasised the need to break any winds and draughts from entering the shed. But she also reminded the attendees of the importance of having adequate ventilation to prevent ammonia build up. She showed an image of where a farmer had taken the practical approach and had placed a row of wrapped bales along the side that caught the prevailing wind as a practical and cheap solution to break the wind, but still provide adequate ventilation. To assess the quantity of ventilation Hughes recommends farmers get down to calf height. “You should be able to light a match and not have it blow out. Before it does burn out you should be able to tell where any draughts are coming from. Don’t use this method if straw is used as a bedding though,” she says. It’s important to ensure that calves have enough entertainment and behavioural stimulation. Items such as road cones, Swiss balls and pantyhose with a tennis ball inside hung from the roof are all things that can be used and work well. These entertainments give calves something to do, particularly when they’re transitioning between feed options such as twice-a-day feeding to once a day. These options are cheaper than a commercial calf brush. However, she has seen a calf shed where the head of a yard broom has been taped to a wall as a much cheaper DIY solution. Hughes told the crowd that studies
DAIRY FARMER
August 2022
