Queen of Calves

THIS IS A GAMEҺCHANGER

COW NUMBERS ARE LIKELY TO BE CAPPED. TO PRODUCE MORE WITH LESS, YOU’LL NEED A GAMEҺCHANGER.

“If 10% of NZ farmers raised their replacements on the Queen of Calves program, they could produce the same amount of milk solids from 46,000 fewer cows - on a total grazing footprint for the milking plaĤorm and dairy support which is 13% smaller than the present.”

BERL. Business Economic Advisors, Wellington, New Zealand

“Adopধng Queen of Calves is farming smarter and meeধng the challenges of being a global supplier of dairy nutriধon. More milk solids from the same inputs and aligning that milk with the higher premiums is a giant leap forward to farming smarter and beħer.”

DairyNZ’s Principal Scienধst, John Roche, agrees with the correlaধon of early rapid growth and future milk producধon. He co-authored a paper* on heifer development and presented the evidence at a symposium of New Zealand and Australian Large Animal Scienধsts.

Wayne Shaw, top-performing dairy herd, Waikato.

*Heifer rearing to opধmise farm profitability, by J R Roche, N A Dennis, K A MacDonald, C V C Phyn, P R America, R R White and J K Drackley, Proceedings of the 5th Australasian Dairy Science Symposium, Hamilton 2014

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FOREWORD

by Stephen Bell-Booth

The game is changing for New Zealand dairying and we face new challenges. With pressure to de-intensify, the challenge ahead will be to produce more with less. Some farms will need to milk less cows, raise fewer herd replacements that remain in the herd longer, are more produc ve and more economically viable. In order to survive and prosper, farmers will need proven strategies, trialed under local condi ons as part of their business plan.

MEET IT’S A GAMEҺCHANGER In the past few years our Company has invested $2.5 million in researching early heifer development - comparing the Queen of Calves™ program against other calf nutriধon models. From the research we know Queen of Calves can reliably turn out heifer calves that gain an extra kilogram each fortnight during the milk-feeding phase.

HOW?

Treated calves are beħer feed converters.

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HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GROW A HEIFER CALF TO TARGET WEANING WEIGHT?

WE ASKED LIC. ANSWER: DON’T KNOW. We asked 507 dairy farmers who raise their calves on a conven onal diet.

ANSWER: MOST DON’T KNOW. For the small number who weighed the calves, day 96 was the selected date to weigh.

We asked Massey University how many days using a conven onal diet1.

ANSWER: 82 DAYS.

We asked Massey University how many days incorpora ng Queen of Calves with a conven onal diet2.

ANSWER: 74 DAYS.

So, the conclusion is, done well, using a conven onal calf diet, it takes 82 days to grow a 38kg liveweight heifer to target weaning weight. But using Queen of Calves it takes only 74 days1.

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Based on the average days to weaning, over three trials, at Massey University (2006, 20072, 2014) 38kg birthweight Friesian and/or Friesian/Crossbred calves in both groups (treatment and control) were offered a daily milk volume which was approximately 10-12% of their birth-bodyweight, plus unrestricted access to 20% protein calf meal as well as unrestricted access to fresh fibre and clean drinking water.

WITH CALVES WERE: Out of the shed 8 days quicker.

Achieved target weaning weight saving 32 litres milk (through 8 days quicker).

Achieved target weaning weight saving 12 kilograms rams calfmeal (through 8 days quicker).

The average daily liveweight gain3 during the milk lk feeding phase was 706 grams.

Gained an addi onal 71 grams liveweight each day over and above Control (conven onally-reared calves) during the milk-feeding phase.

That resulted in an extra kilogram liveweight every ery 14 days during the milk-feeding phase.

The effect of increasing nutrient and amino acid concentra on of milk diets on dairy y heifer n Margerison, individual feed intake, growth, development, and lacta on performance,’ by Dr Jean urnal of Dairy D iy Dr G.W. Reynolds and A. D. J. Robarts, was peer-reviewed and published in the Journal Science. 96:6539-6549 h p://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2012-6489 3 The average daily liveweight gain for the conven onal diet (milk & meal) control calves vess w was as 63 6 635gm.

35g 5gm.

5gm gm. m 2

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WHY DO FARMERS SAY QUEEN OF CALVESҺRAISED HEIFERS ARE HEALTHIER?

YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ THE ACCOUNTS OF 10 DAIRY FARMERS WHO HAVE PUT QUEEN OF CALVES TO THE TEST AND OPENLY PROVIDE THEIR INDUSTRY COLLEAGUES WITH THE FACTS. ALL OF THESE FARMERS USED QUEEN OF CALVES TO IMPROVE THEIR HERD. IN LISTENING TO EACH PERSON, WHEN THEIR QUEEN OF CALVESҺRAISED CALVES HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO HEALTH CHALLENGES, AND WHEN THEY HAVE RECOVERED, THE CALVES GENERALLY ‘BOUNCE BACK’ INTO GROWTHҺMODE. THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE. I spoke with the manager of a large herd in Canterbury where Queen of Calves was trialed to see if it could benefit the already highachieving dairy farm. They compared the daily growth rates of 250 Queen of Calves-raised herd replacements against 250 calves raised on a convenধonal diet1.

The Queen of Calves heifers grew an extra kilogram every 16 days during the milk-feeding phase.

Health-wise, 50 of the convenধonally-grown calves required treatment for coccidiosis, whereas none of the Queen of Calves-raised heifers required treatment.

INDEX

9 Heather and Tony Brown early adopters, South Canterbury

10 Jenny and Andrew McGiven vet and dairy farmers, Te Aroha

12 Wayne and Kate Shaw New Zealand’s oldest Jersey stud, Waikato

15 Dave Jurlina first-ধme user, Kaitaia

16 Hayden Lawrence possibly world’s highest-producing herd (milk solids), Taranaki

18 Paul and Lisa Charmley mulধ-award winning dairy farmers, Tararua

22 Shaun Brighouse Intelact dairy systems farmer, Waikato

24 Amy Lowe farm manager and caħle breeder, Manawatu

25 Todd Portman former scepধc and first-ধme user, South Canterbury

26 Herbie and Sandy Lenssen raised 1,400 calves on the program, South Waikato

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AS COWS, DO QUEEN OF CALVES RAISED HEIFERS PRODUCE MORE MILK? In a 5-year retrospecধve study on milk producধon and survivability2 (2009-2013) at Massey University’s Number 4 Dairy, Wellington economics firm BERL found the treated cows produced an addiধonal 30 kilograms of milksolids on average per lactaধon, for the first 5 years. An extra 150kgMS/cow over 5 years.

Massey trial and naধonal producধon 2009/10 to 2013/14 600

ANSWER: ON FACE VALUE, YES. BERL’s finding is supported by the worldwide evidence that points to a direct link between rapid, early growth in the milk-feeding phase, to increased milk producধon.

Even DairyNZ’s Principal Scienধst, John Roche, agrees with the correlaধon of early rapid growth and future milk producধon.

500 Producধon kgMS/lactaধon

IS THE INCREASED MILK PRODUCTION SOLELY DUE TO THE QUEEN OF CALVES NUTRITION PROGRAM IN THE FIRST 10 WEEKS?

400

To read BERL’s assessment, go to hħp://berl.co.nz/home/SearchForm?Search=Queen+of+Calves or scan this QR code with your smartphone

300

200

100

0 2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

NZ Friesians same lactaধon Manawatu Friesians same lactaধon Massey dairy farm same lactaধon Massey trial Control group Massey trial Queen of Calves group

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All of the 500 herd-replacements were fed the same calfmeal that contained coccidostat.

BERL found 55% of the treated cows were in the herd at the end of the 5th lactaধon while only 22% of untreated remained in the herd for the same period. Because the numbers of animals in the Massey study are small, BERL’s observaধon can only be considered a trend when discussing the subject of survivability. It will be a focus for future research.

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HOW GOOD A JOB OF HEIFER REARING IS NEW ZEALAND DOING IN THE MILKҺFEEDING PHASE? THREE SIMPLE WORDS: COULD DO BETTER. We wanted to know about calf rearing pracধces on-farm. We approached the industry. We asked on social media. We asked customers and friends to make enquiries through their own social networks. Surprisingly, for an industry which is a major contributor to New Zealand’s GDP, there is virtually no solid data about early heifer development.

So, in December 2017 as part of an MBA study, we surveyed 507 dairy farmers who between them raise 102,000 or approximately 8% of NZ’s heifer calves.

These results may shock you: 1 Not one mob of calves had been weighed at birth or at entry to the calf shed.

2 In the absence of birthweight data, none of the farms knew their precise daily liveweight gains throughout the milk-feeding phase.

3 Only 24 of the 507 farms recorded 5 or more mulধple weighings to assess liveweight gains.

4 Only half of the calves were weaned according to liveweight.

5 The average ধme to achieve target weaning weight was unknown.

However, the farmers who kept records, weighed the calves at day 96 (13.7 weeks).

6 Generally speaking, most surveyed farmers seemed to regard calf rearing as a job that had to be done and looked to pick up any of the slack ađer weaning.

1

Brownlie & McDougall, Proceedings of DCV at NZVA, Hamilton, June 2014.

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SUMMARY • The industry does not understand the importance, nor appreciate the value, of the milkfeeding phase.

• Feeding more milk to a calf is not the answer. Why? Because it doesn’t produce the right type of growth. Just look at the NZ milk producধon staধsধcs and see how poorly convenধonally-reared heifers are producing in their first lactaধon. And 38% of the heifers raised are not compleধng a 3rd lactaধon1. How is this situaধon economically viable?

BERL talks about ‘A Scenario of Naধonal Impact’ in their May 2015 Economic Impacts finding on the Queen of Calves nutriধon program.

BERL think Queen of Calves produces such beħer quality herd-replacements that “NZ dairy farmers could produce a farmgate income 10% greater than at present from the same number of cows in-milk.” They esধmate that if 10% of the naধonal herd (500,000 cows) were raised on the supplement program it would produce 25 million tonnes more milksolids than at present on the same grazing footprint, or alternaধvely, farmers could maintain the present levels of producধon, and produce that on a 13% smaller total grazing footprint, reducing the environmental impact.

For any game-changer to impact on producধvity we need to review our current pracধces and farm smarter. That starts on your farm.

ARE YOU READY TO CHANGE YOUR GAME?

Stephen Bell-Booth CEO Bell-Booth Limited

“I WILL NEVER RAISE ANOTHER HEIFER CALF AGAIN WITHOUT QUEEN OF CALVES.” Heather and Tony Brown, South Canterbury

Tony and Heather Brown milk 650 cows and raise 139 herd replacements on their South Canterbury farm.

They raised some of their calves on Queen of Calves in 2003 and con nued its use up un l 2008. In 2009 & 2010 they wanted to carry out a comparison so discon nued the use of Queen of Calves for two seasons. It was during the second calf-rearing season (2010) that Heather made the pledge to her business partner and husband “I will never raise another heifer calf in my life again, without Queen of Calves.”

Heather is a staunch advocate for the use of Queen of Calves because of four factors: 1 It helps her raise healthier calves.

2 The calves wean weeks faster.

3 There is lower mortality.

4 The calves do not take a growth check at weaning.

Q What was the difference raising your replacements without Queen of Calves?

A “The most no ceable change with Queen of Calves is there is a huge difference at weaning.

Without Queen of Calves, the calves take a lot longer,” says Heather. “But, worse s ll, those calves go backwards a er weaning. But with Queen of Calves, they hit weaning quicker and there is no going backwards a erwards. They keep on growing. We wean our calves 2-3 weeks earlier than our neighbours.”

Tony agrees. “Yes that’s right. I look a er the calves once they’re weaned. They are fantas c heifers.

They keep on growing. I drench them at the runoff and that’s it, the job’s done. The Queen of Calves heifers grow like mushrooms. I know from personal experience the difference between treated versus control because I look a er our heifers at the runoff block as well as a neighbour’s heifers. The other heifers are off what you would call a typical, low-cost dairy farm where calves are raised on a conven onal diet.

“The difference between the two groups is night and day. The Queen of Calves-raised heifers are strong and healthy, with virtually no mortality, the other heifers have a lot of health issues. Honestly, up there, the neighbours can’t believe how good our heifers are.”

“THEY HIT WEANING QUICKER AND THERE IS NO GOING BACK AFTERWARDS.”

Q What was your farm consultant’s advice?

A “Our consultant does not advocate the use of Queen of Calves. He thinks it is an extravagant use of money. In other words, we would be be er off without it.

“But, let’s think about it for a moment in the context of overall farm economics. It’s staggering to think that 38% of New Zealand’s heifers do not complete a third lacta on. In our case that would mean 54 of our calves would be culled in their 3rd lacta on. That’s unbelievable. And to think, so many farmers, and consultants who have not used Queen of Calves think it’s expensive!

“For us, farming is not about produc on. It’s about the bo om line. When our consultant said he wished he had more clients with spreadsheets like this, I had a real chuckle to myself.”

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“THIS IS NO ‘MIRACLE CURE.’ IT’S A THOROUGHLYҺ RESEARCHED CALF NUTRITION PROGRAM THAT DELIVERS SUPERIOR RESULTS.” Andrew and Jenny McGiven BVSc, Te Aroha

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JENNY AND ANDREW MCGIVEN HAVE USED QUEEN OF CALVES FOR 12 YEARS. A QUALIFIED VET, JENNY UNDERSTANDS MORE THAN MOST ABOUT ANIMAL DEVELOPMENT AND WELLҺBEING. JENNY SAYS “THIS IS NO ‘MIRACLEҺCURE.’ IT’S A THOROUGHLYҺRESEARCHED CALF NUTRITION PROGRAM THAT DELIVERS SUPERIOR RESULTS.” Q Why do you raise your calves on Queen of Calves?

A “The calves are healthier. We have raised all our herd-replacements on it for years and found the heifers achieve key target weights and have gone on to become producধve contributors to our herd.”

Q Do you weigh your calves?

A “Yes. We weigh them every 3-4 weeks.

On average, this year’s heifer calves grew 740 grams a day during the milk feeding phase. What that means is every 9 days these heifers have gained another kilogram in liveweight compared to a convenধonally-grown heifer calf.”

Q You invested in automated calf feeding recently?

A “Yes. We automated the calf rearing a couple of years ago. It saves ধme and heavy liđing and produces great calves.”

Q A lot of dairy farmers have been scepধcal about Queen of Calves.

Why do you think that’s the case?

A “I guess it’s new and farmers don’t like to try new things,” says Jenny. “Perhaps with a lot of farms being bought-out and larger farming units being formed, where unlike Andrew and I, who are owneroperators, the corporate owners are not hands-on day to day and therefore don’t see the results first-hand.

“It’s probably due to either prior incorrect use of the product, or hearsay,” says Andrew. “I’m not puষng Queen of Calves in that bag but farmers have heard about ‘miracle-cures’ over the years and kiwis love to believe what they hear. The Great Depression taught farmers about how to be frugal and that memory lasts a long ধme.”

ON AVERAGE, EVERY 9 DAYS DURING THE MILKҺ FEEDING PHASE, MCGIVEN’S HEIFER CALVES GAINED AN EXTRA KILOGRAM LIVEWEIGHT COMPARED TO A CONVENTIONALLYҺREARED HEIFER CALF. 11

“A GIANT LEAP FORWARD TO FARMING SMARTER.” Kate and Wayne Shaw, Paterangi Jerseys, Waikato

“IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT USING THE QUEEN OF CALVES CALF NUTRITION PROGRAM.” WAYNE SHAW Һ PATERANGI JERSEYS

Wayne and Kate are sharemilkers on Ray and Marion Shaw’s farm. Paterangi Jersey’s is New Zealand’s oldest Jersey Caħle Stud and was chosen by DairyNZ for the 2018 iCar conference delegaধon farm-visit.

During the past 3 years the average firstlactaধon milk producধon of NZ Jersey heifers has declined by approximately 10kgMS. Against that background, first-lactaধon milk producধon from Paterangi Jersey’s heifers has bucked the trend. It has increased by an average of 79 kilograms per animal over the same period. The owners of the farm are adamant this outcome would not have been possible without using Queen of Calves.

Ađer 8 years experience raising herd-replacements on the program, Wayne Shaw says: “Adopধng Queen of Calves is farming smarter and meeধng the challenges of being a global supplier of dairy nutriধon. More milksolids from the same inputs and aligning that milk with the higher premiums is a giant leap forward to farming smarter and beħer.

It would not have been possible without using the Queen of Calves nutriধon program.”

Q When did you start using Queen of Calves?

A “We have been raising our herd-replacements on Queen of Calves for 8 years. We started using it because another local Jersey breeder raised his calves on Queen of Calves. Dad saw them at a show and was so impressed he asked the owner what he’d done.”

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“WE WENT CAREFULLY OVER OUR RECORDS AND THE ONLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE WE FOUND IN THESE CATTLE WAS THE USE OF QUEEN OF CALVES DURING THE MILKҺFEEDING PHASE.” 13

Q You iniধally thought it was a waste of money?

A “When we first used it we thought it hadn’t made any difference. We didn’t measure liveweight gains or stature but just from a visual point of view, the calves appeared to be as normal at weaning. We didn’t use Queen of Calves for the next two years. But when the treated mob of heifers entered our herd as 2-year olds in spring 2010, they produced more milk than usual. We went carefully over our records and the only significant difference we found in these ca le was the use of Queen of Calves during the milk-feeding phase. And that was the beginning of a change of farming policy situa on whereby every calf is now raised on the Queen of Calves program.

“Our 2017 results are the best ever. 41% of the herd achieved a classifica on exceeding 8.8 with 54% vhc. Milk produc on was 457kgMS in a 305-day lacta on. Nearly half of the lacta on was performed in very wet condi ons, then it turned hot, then dry. The heifers will now calve-down beginning April 10 despite calving at the end of May last year (11 month turn-around). 88% of the herd are in-calf a er a 7-day ma ng period to ar ficial insemina on (AI).

Comparison of heifer milk producধon (Jersey), 2013-2017 397kgMS

400kgMS 319kgMS 300kgMS 264kgMS

254kgMS 200kgMS

100kgMS

0kgMS 2013

2014

2015

Shaw’s heifer first-lactaধon producধon kgMS NZ Jersey heifer first-lactaধon producধon kgMS

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2016

2017

“Under a System 3 structure our herd average produc on in the past 5 years has gone from 337kgMS/cow to 457kgMS/cow. None of this would have been possible without using the Queen of Calves nutri on program; superior animal performance starts at birth. We are proud of our Jersey herd and we put the answer to the success of the herd down to two things; (1) careful a en on to gene c selec on (2) the addi on of Queen of Calves to the calf nutri on regime from day 2 un l weaning.”

Q Tell us about iCar. A “In February our farm was featured in a tour for an interna onal conference about livestock gene cs. The World Congress on Gene cs Applied to Livestock Produc on (iCar) is held every four years. Since its incep on in 1974 in Spain, mee ngs have been held in the USA, Scotland, Canada, etc. The 11th Congress was held in Auckland and welcomed more than 1,000 leading scien sts and prac oners in animal recording and gene c evalua on from around the world. I told the group of 140 visi ng delegates about the progress of this farm and how Queen of Calves generates faster lean skeletal growth in the calves’ first 10 weeks of life so that the animals can be mated at 11-12 months. It allows the heifers to be fully mature and calve at 20 months with the result being that it allows us to produce high quality winter milk. As farmers, we cannot control the milk price or compliance costs, but we can choose to produce more milk in the more valuable mes of year.

“In our local paper, LIC chief scien st Bevin Harris was quoted as saying the conference was something for the NZ animal industry to be proud of. He said it’s like the Olympics of the animal gene cs world coming to New Zealand.

These are the biggest events on the industry’s event calendar. This represents a huge recogni on of our country’s animal gene cs industry and is a great opportunity to showcase our animal recording and technological developments.

New Zealand is a leader in this space.”

“THIS IS LOOKING GOOD. THE CALVES WEANED 10 DAYS EARLIER.” Dave Jurlina, Kaitaia

DAVE AND NADA JURLINA ARE FOURTHҺGENERATION KAITAIA FARMERS. TOGETHER WITH THEIR TEAM THEY MILK 530 COWS AND RAISE 140 HERDҺREPLACEMENTS EACH YEAR. FIRSTҺTIME USERS.

Q Why did you decide to use Queen of Calves?

A “Because of my neighbour Peter Currie. I saw how well Peter’s calves were growing into 2-year old’s. My brother Mike owns the block where Peter’s heifers were grazing. He called me and said, ‘Dave, you want to see these things, they’re mammoth.’ They were huge. Right from the start those calves looked good.

“Previously Nada and I were growing ok calves. It wasn’t like they were shockers but what we’re trying to achieve out of this change to Queen of Calves at the end of the day, no maħer whether it’s a Jersey or Friesian, is how she produces milk. We read the Massey University research on Queen of Calves and it showed they produced more milk so that’s where we’re hoping to head. I was a bit scepধcal about using it. People said it was hard to mix. That’s not true, it was doable, not a major. Nada is in charge of calf rearing, she rears 600 each spring; 140 herd replacements and 150 bull calves while 300 beef calves are raised on cows.”

Q You say the calves weaned 10 days earlier than normal.

How do you know?

A “Nada told me to come and have a look at the calves, and I said, ‘They won’t be ready to go.’ But when I got to the paddock, she was right – a whole lot of these calves were running past me and I realized I was looking at 90 kilogram animals. I had put a handful of late 70kg bull calves that were just weighed in with the replacements. But here were these heifers that were much bigger than the bulls. We weaned the calves in 3 lots and at each weaning, they were 10 days quicker to target than normal. We checked with past diary records, they were consistently well ahead.”

Leđ: Paul Hill (Bell-Booth) Right: Dave Jurlina

Q Next spring?

A “We’re in. What I need to do is listen to my wife and get my head around the program and follow it carefully this year to ensure we get it right from the start. Our goal is to see if we can do beħer than 10 days quicker weaning.”

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SOME OF THE TOPҺPRODUCING COWS IN THE WORLD Hayden Lawrence, Taranaki HAYDEN AND ALECIA LAWRENCE HAVE ONE OF THE HIGHESTҺPERFORMING DAIRY HERDS IN NEW ZEALAND, IF NOT THE WORLD, WITH A HERDҺAVERAGE OF 865KGMS/COW. To reduce costs and increase milk producধon the Lawrence’s decided to calve down twice in a 3-year period. In the spring calving season the average per cow producধon was 865kgMS and the following autumn calving was 835kgMS. The total milk producধon over the three years was up 35kgMS/cow and costs were down 24%.

The Lawrence’s have raised all their herd replacements on Queen of Calves since 2008 and rate its use during early heifer development as an intrinsic part of the overall farm success. The Lawrence moħo is: ‘If you can’t measure it, don’t use it. It’s using the measure that counts, rather than measuring it.’

Developing rapid growth in the milk-feeding phase is absolutely criধcal.

A survey on early heifer development undertaken

by Bell-Booth in summer of 2017 which involved 102,000 heifer calves that were raised on a convenধonal diet, showed many of the calves took 96 days to achieve target weaning weight.

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In comparison, the Lawrence’s spring 2017 heifer calves took only 66 days1, on average, and that’s despite an outbreak of rotavirus in the shed. Calf growth averaged 850 grams per day2 throughout the milk-feeding phase.

Q How do your cows rate in terms of global comparison for milk solids producধon?

A “We’ve got some of the best-performing cows in the world on this farm. My top girls are producing 3.5-4 kilograms milksolids a day. We can compete with anything around the globe. Sure, there are bigger-producing Holstein cows producing 12,000 litres a year etc, but they are not out-performing our top-producers when it comes to kilograms of milksolids produced.”

Q What’s the average herd age?

A “The oldest cow is 12 years and the average age is 5 years. We recently purchased the neighbouring farm and through introducing a number of the bought-in young cows it has reduced the overall herd age.”

“MY TOP GIRLS ARE PRODUCING 3.5Һ4 KILOGRAMS MILKSOLIDS A DAY. WE CAN COMPETE WITH ANYTHING AROUND THE GLOBE.”

Q Do you have any comment about udder appearance/stature of young heifers that are raised on Queen of Calves?

A “Our heifers used to have bigger udders. Nowadays the udders are smaller but they milk-out be er. I think a smaller, ghter udder as a two year old holds the heifer in be er stead for when she becomes older.”

Q Some farmers and farm advisors look at the cost of a Queen of Calves program and say it’s expensive.

What do you think of the cost and return on your early heifer-development investment?

A “If 38% of New Zealand’s heifers are not comple ng a third lacta on it’s no wonder so many farmers are struggling to get ahead. It costs about $1,700 to raise a heifer. She produces 300 kilograms milksolids in her first lacta on so she hasn’t even broken even.

In the second lacta on that cow is just beginning to pay her way. Lacta on number 3: she’s culled! Talk about false-economy. It’s got to change.

“I think the biggest single downfall in New Zealand dairy is days in milk. We are learning to get a good balance in our business by milking later-calvers and any high producing empty cows through the winter period. Currently we’re milking 340 cows due to the drought effec ng pasture growth. We should be milking 370.”

This is what rapid, early growth looks like. Fletcher Lawrence (right) with his heifer calf ‘Dasha’ at Stratford A&P Show, November 2017. Born 1 August 2017 and weighing 176 kilograms on 4 December, Dasha won the title of Grand Champion, presented by Northland dairy farmer and respected NZ cattle judge, Barry Montgomery (left).

1 2

49-85 day range.

With the range of lowest daily growth of 600g/day to 1,120 grams per day for the best-performing calves.

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“IT PAYS FOR ITSELF IN THE FIRST LACTATION”

MULTI AWARDҺWINNING DAIRY FARMER DESCRIBES THE QUEEN OF CALVES CALF NUTRITION PROGRAM AS A “GAMEҺCHANGER.” Lisa and Paul Charmley, Dannevirke

LISA CHARMLEY

This couple walk the talk. They monitor, measure and are consistently recognised for their prac ces and innova on. With farm working expenses at $2.36 (excluding management labour) and a passion to turn their System 2 dairy business on its head in order to deliver where ‘Profit is Sanity’ and ‘Produc on is Vanity’ welcome to the once a day world of Paul and Lisa Charmley.

Milking 295 cows on 108 effec ve hectares, south of Dannevirke in the Tararua District, Paul and Lisa Charmley have just gone once a day milking this season and have recently completed their fourth season raising their herd replacements on the Queen of Calves program.

Changing over to Queen of Calves in 2014 has brought a completely new approach to heifer rearing for Paul & Lisa. In the past, their heifers were raised on an ad-lib milk system (the calf drinks as much as it can consume in the shed, then the amount is reduced once out in the paddock). That model generated ‘fat, podgy heifers’ that produced only 74% of the average herd milk produc on.

2017 Spring born. 19 February 2018.

Young stock trend – all 60 animals in this weighing are displayed PSM 1 Nov 2018

Today 5 Mar 2018

250kg 200kg 150kg

23kg

100kg 50kg 0kg 0 months Aug 2017

Data source: MINDA

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3 months Nov 2017

6 months Feb 2018

9 months May 2018

12 months Aug 2018

15 months Nov 2018

“TODAY, ALL OF OUR HEIFERS ARE NO LONGER GIVEN UNLIMITED ACCESS TO MILK. THEY ARE RAISED ON THE QUEEN OF CALVES PROGRAM WITH A SPECIFIED DAILY MILK VOLUME.”

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2017 BALLANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS һ HORIZONS REGION Һ LIC DAIRY FARM AWARD* FOR BUSINESS PRACTICE AND SUSTAINABILITY 2015 BALLANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS, HORIZONS REGION Һ HILLS LABORATORY HARVEST AWARD FOR PASTURE MANAGEMENT AND GRAZING 2017 BALLANCE FARM ENVIRONMENT AWARDS, HORIZONS REGION Һ MASSEY UNIVERSITY INNOVATION AWARD FOR USE OF DRONE TECHNOLOGY FOR HEAT DETECTION AND ONFARM INNOVATIONS

“Today, all of our heifers are no longer given unlimited access to milk,” says Lisa. “They are raised on a Queen of Calves program with a specified daily milk volume. These heifers are now entering the herd as 2-year-olds at their target herd-entry weight and are producing 86% of the mature herd produc on in their first lacta on. As a ma er of fact, our top-ranked and 6th top-producing cow is a first-lacta on heifer.

“We used to raise 75 herd replacements annually because that was just what you did,” says Lisa. “Raise 25% replacements and cull the emp es and older cows.

We thought about that and realised that a lot of the me we were culling good produc ve cows and replacing some of them with lower producing heifers. So, we decided to bring in less heifers and raise them be er. And that’s why we chose to go with Queen of Calves; keeping an eye on them as they grow, so they can jus fy their posi on as a member of the herd. Today we raise 21% herd replacements.”

Return to profit “Profit is sanity, produc on is vanity. I come from a manufacturing background running an aluminium window manufacturing business where everything had to be run on a me & mo on basis,” says Lisa. “And the big, glaring hole in this business was the heifers.

“In 2013 we sat down and pressed the reset bu on and did a lean management system on this farming opera on. We decided it was nigh on impossible to change our cows, the only place we could affect real change was in our young stock. We had heard good things at a farm discussion group about Queen of Calves. So we read the research and had a discussion about it with Bell-Booth. We purchased product in 2014 and told Bell-Booth we would monitor the progress and measure the outcomes. And we have.”

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“QUEEN OF CALVES PASSES THE CHARMLEY COSTҺ TEST WITH FLYING COLOURS, BECAUSE IT PAYS FOR ITSELF IN THE FIRST LACTATION.”

“BEING ONCE AҺDAY WE HAVE BRED FOR UDDER SUPPORT, BUT I THINK QUEEN OF CALVES IS CAUSING A BETTER UDDER. THEY SEEM TO MILKҺOUT WELL.”

Cost “We made a decision a while back to avoid system-creep.” declares Paul. “There is too much system-creep going on in dairy. We see examples of that all the me. You have a wet winter so you put in a feed pad. You put a roof over the pad. You need another tractor. More labour. Another house. A new cow shed, and like a mouse on a treadmill you run faster but don’t move anywhere. Suddenly before you know it you have morphed from a System 2 opera on to a System 3 or 4. That’s system-creep.” Every expense on this farm has to be jus fied in several ways in order to make it onto the Charmley budget line. Against a na onal average dairy industry backdrop of $3.88 FWE, they have managed to reduce their farm working expenses to $2.36.

“Queen of Calves passes the Charmley cost-test with flying colours,” says Lisa “because it pays for itself in the first lactaধon.”

There’s no guesswork when you measure Paul’s father looks a er the calves at the grazing block. In 2016 Mr Charmley Snr was concerned at the look of the calves. He thought they were undersized and so weighscales were purchased. The results were interes ng and reassuring. Weighing demonstrated the calves were (a) above industry target weights for age, and, (b) were 7 kilograms different on average than the weighband indicated. “Weighband is a very very rough guide and should not be used to determine weaning. It can be 7kg plus or minus.”

Q How are the Queen of Calves heifers doing at herd-entry?

A “Prior to using Queen of Calves we used to be able to easily pick out the heifers. We’d look along the row and say, cow, cow, cow, heifer, cow, cow heifer. You’d easily see the size differen al. Whereas now, you can’t pick them. They blend in and are good to go,” says Lisa.

Q Udder confirmaধon, Queen of Calves-influence or geneধcs?

A “I think it’s a fuller, be er-looking udder than we used to have,” describes Paul. “I didn’t use to go around looking at heifer udders before I started using Queen of Calves,” says Lisa. “Some would say udder confirma on is purely gene cs. I think there is a correla on between skeletal structure and udder confirma on. Being once a-day we have bred for udder support, but I think Queen of Calves is causing a be er udder. They seem to milkout well.”

Q Health?

A “I recall Paul regularly coming back from the runoff saying, ‘we’ve lost another calf.’ Today we hardly lose a calf. If one dies I just about order an autopsy. Now we’re producing ‘supreme beings’ rather than just heifers. They have become the main focus of our opera on, rather than an a erthought.”

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“COULD THE USE OF QUEEN OF CALVES ON OUR FARM HELP MITIGATE NҺLEACHING? THE RESEARCH DEFINITELY SHOWS THEY ARE BETTER FEED CONVERTERS.” Shaun Brighouse, Kaipaki, Waikato SHAUN BRIGHOUSE WAS A FIRSTҺTIME USER OF QUEEN OF CALVES IN AUTUMN 2016. SINCE THEN HE HAS REARED 4 LOTS OF HERDҺ REPLACEMENTS AS WELL AS A MOB OF WAGYU’S ON THE PROGRAM. SHAUN’S FIRST GROUP OF TREATED HEIFERS ARE ABOUT TO CALVE AND ENTER THE MILKING HERD. WITH SPLITҺCALVING, SHAUN HERDҺTESTS 5 TIMES A YEAR.

Q What got you started?

A “I was asked by our Intelact Consultant, Chris Pyke, who was working in conjuncধon with Bell-Booth’s vet, Mark Gilmour, to trial Queen of Calves as part of Intelact’s product assessment. Intelact were familiar with the research and wanted a customer to assess the product from a pracধcal on-farm, ease of use criধque, before they would promote it.”

Q How did it go?

A “Easy. Especially when I mix it with warm milk. I take milk straight out of the line and mix in my Queen of Calves. In the past we used to feed the calves cold, penicillin milk. But that is now a waste product. As part of our heifer development review, we will not use penicillin milk on this farm again.”

“THEY GROW WELL. THEY ARE RESILIENT. LAST SPRING WAS TOUGH. A NUMBER OF CALVES HAD EҺCOLI. BUT ONCE THEY RECOVERED THEY JUST BOUNCED BACK.” 22

Q How much more ধme does the program take you?

A “When the calves are out in the paddock, it’s not adding any extra ধme at all. But when the calves are in the pens, using Queen of Calves takes us an extra 30 minutes. It’s basically because we are mixing STARTER with cold colostrum that has to be warmed up.

But with the FINISHER I’ve got the mixing down to 3 minutes.”

Q Do you weigh your calves at calf shed entry?

A “No, but we weigh them at weaning using weighscales, minimum weaning weight is 100kg.”

Q What are your observaধons?

A “They grow well. They are resilient. Last spring was tough. A number of calves had e-coli. But once they recovered they just bounced back.”

Q Any quicker to target weaning weight?

A “Yes. 5-6 days. It’s a no ceable difference. I know that for sure, I’ve made comparisons. So, we’re in the ballpark of weaning at week 11 rather

than week 12. We saw it with the Wagyus. The Queen of Calves Wagyu heifers achieved their target weaning weights 5 days quicker than the untreated control heifers. The treated bulls were 6 days quicker.”

Q What do your parents think of the outcomes?

A “They are very pleased. Mum’s rapt. She describes them as ‘good, solid animals.’ She says last

autumn’s heifers are phenomenal; big, wide, fullgu ed, well grown heifers.”

Q Udder development?

A “My gut feeling is I’m seeing earlier udder development. I’ve never said this before because heifers are generally hard work. But I am honestly looking forward to milking these heifers. There’s something about them. They’re looking great.

They’re not giants, they just grew quicker. I’m keen to see how they milk. I mean, I’ve done the work, they were quicker to weaning, they have developed beau fully at the runoff, the research shows they produce more milk, so we are expec ng to see that replicated this coming season.”

Q Anything else, what are the challenges up ahead?

A “We are looking for efficiencies. Being situated one farm away from the Waikato River, our farm is in the Regional Council’s Priority One Zone. At the end of next year we are going to be working to a plan to ensure our N-leaching is within certain parameters. I think we’ll be okay. But having more efficient milk producers in the herd is going to help. So, growing our heifers on the Queen of Calves program could be an effec ve mechanism in reducing our N-leaching. The research definitely shows they are be er feed converters as calves.

If I can bring in less feed and send out the same amount of milk, the Regional Council is going to be happy if it mi gates N-leaching.

Shaun Brighouse (right) with Bell-Booth Consultant Vet Mark Gilmour BVSc and Queen of Calvesraised herd replacements approximately 9 monthsof-age.

“We’re converted to Queen of Calves now. I think it’s a game-changer. I definitely want the Intelact Consultants to come and see how good they are as I think they should be promo ng it. If you’re using a consultant, you probably are an aboveaverage farmer. So, if you’re that type of farmer why aren’t you using Queen of Calves?”

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Q How would you describe the difference in your animals with Queen of Calves?

A “I’d put it down in two words, behaviour and looks.

These calves grow quicker. They are easy to raise because they are healthy. They look different from an early age. They look like li le cows. They don’t look like chunky heifers. They don’t take a growth check at weaning. They just keep on growing. In fact, they don’t hang around the gateways whingeing for milk a er weaning. They know how to forage and then as heifers, they fully milk-out.”

SILKY UDDERS THAT FULLY MILKҺOUT Amy Lowe, Manawatu

Q Silky udders? You coined the term ‘silky udders that fully milk-out.’ What do you mean?

A “It’s just something I no ced on a line of heifers.

Before they were bagging-up, before they were calving, I could see those folds in the udder, it was just like a sheet of silk and I could just imagine the udders filling up with milk. The texture of the udder is so much nicer than normal, and they milk clean-out.”

“RAISING THE HERD REPLACEMENTS ON QUEEN OF CALVES IS ONE OF THE POSITIVE CONTRIBUTIONS I HAVE MADE TO THIS BUSINESS.” 24

Q The owner of the farm was ini ally scep cal about Queen of Calves. How is he now?

A “Old habits die hard. For a lot of people if it ‘aint broke, don’t fix it, that’s the mentality. When I was employed, the owner, Grant Kearins, asked me to feed the calves using a par cular system. But he did allow me to raise one mob on Queen of Calves. When he saw how those heifers milked, he changed and is now fully onboard. He saw what it did to the vat. There’s more milk.

And isn’t that what we’re all trying to do at the end of the day?

“To summarise, I’m not content with normal. My goal when I joined the Kearins opera on, was to be er the farm. Raising the herd-replacements on Queen of Calves is one of the posi ve contribu ons I have made to this business. If you want to push your dairy a li le bit further and get a li le bit more, you’re silly not to be doing it.”

SCEPTIC TURNS CONVERT Todd Portman, Temuka

“THE CALVES WERE OUT OF THE SHED ABOUT 15 DAYS QUICKER THAN NORMAL”

Todd Portman milks 700 cows at Temuka. He was a first- me Queen of Calves user in 2017 raising 300 Friesian/Jersey/Crossbred herd-replacements. Previously Todd was completely scep cal about Queen of Calves.

With a wet and cool spring calf rearing on the Portman’s farm was challenging - a number of calves were affected by cryptosporidium. Despite this, Todd’s heifer calves achieved 93.4kg target weaning weight with an average daily liveweight gain, during the milk-feeding phase of approximately 740g/cow/day. That’s about 105g/cow/day more than a well-grown Friesian heifer raised on a conven onal diet (Massey University assessments 2006, 2007 and 2014).

Todd’s calves were out of the shed about 15 days quicker than normal. They developed the rapid, early growth that is characteris c with the use of Queen of Calves.

Q Tell me why you’ve been a scepধc?

A “I didn’t want to believe the reports. I was aware of the peer-reviewed research findings about Queen of Calves but I wasn’t prepared to use it because of the addi onal cost. I thought I could get the same outcomes by invesধng more ধme and paying more careful aħenধon to calf rearing but a er using Queen of Calves for just one season, that is flawed thinking.”

Q What changed your mind? Why did you raise your heifers on Queen of Calves?

A “There were two primary reasons. I felt I was banging my head against a brick wall with my system, combined with the confidence of trusted friends who have used Queen of Calves for many years. Greg and Lenna Low farm in Ashburton, they told me I should use it. A mee ng was arranged to see their heifers and herd-replacements. They looked amazing, way be er than mine. Another primary reason was a limited milk supply being supplemented by CMR that has both cost and supply issues – the no on of Queen of Calves helping to u lise milk or CMR be er, using less, meant my overall spend was there or thereabouts – excluding ge ng be er milking heifers and cows – the real reason we do it for.”

“CALVES GOT TO WEANING WEIGHT FASTER AND HAVEN’T HAD A WEANING CHECK AS IN YEARS GONE BY.”

Q How would you describe the overall outcome?

A “Calves got to weaning weight faster and haven’t had a weaning check as in years gone by.

It’s not just my observa on. I have neighbours who drive past the farm most days. A couple of weeks ago they phoned asking me what I had done with my calves. The difference in this spring’s calves was so apparent, they asked what I’d done. I told them, Queen of Calves.

“Since they were weaned, they have con nued to exceed expecta ons. They are growing in excess of 0.8kg/heifer/day and are well ahead of MINDA weights. I’ve already ordered Queen of Calves for next spring.”

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IT MAKES CALF FEEDING SO MUCH EASIER Herbie and Sandy Lenssen, Arohena

“WE’VE RAISED 1,400 HERD REPLACEMENTS ON QUEEN OF CALVES. IT PRODUCES STRONG, HEALTHY PRODUCTIVE COWS. CALF MORTALITY IS MINIMAL.” SANDY LENSSEN

Q Have you noধced a reducধon in scours since using Queen of Calves?

A “Yes. We don’t have hardly any scours. The only me we have a small problem with the calves is when we run out of stored colostrum and change over to milk. Other than that we hardly have any problems whatsoever. It just builds the calves be er from the word go.

They love the Queen of Calves STARTER and they seem to do really well out of it.”

Q You rear the calves, Sandy. What are the best features of this program?

A “I think the Queen of Calves definitely helps to get them up and going from the start. It makes calf feeding so much easier. They are sustained for longer. The calves don’t bellow a er feeding. And they’re not hungry at the end of the day. A er their Queen of Calves they go straight to the meal bin and eat. And when they are weaned and go out into the paddock they’ll eat a bale of hay a day.

“Over the 11 years we’ve used it I can say it produces a strong, healthy and produc ve cow.”

Q Looks a nice, gentle-rolling farm, is it?

A “No. People drive past and see the front of the farm and think it’s a beau ful, gentlerolling property. They have no idea how steep it is out the back. When we started, the farm owner said ‘You’ll be lucky to produce more than 190,000 kilograms of milksolids off this pla orm.’ Last year we produced 228,000 kilograms.”

Q What about financial return on the investment?

A “You’ve got to spend money to make money. Same with Queen of Calves. It’s a cost but it pays for itself with savings through low mortality, excellent sale prices for the bulls and be er milk produc on.”

Herbie and Sandy Lenssen are sharemilkers with 560 cows on a very challenging property in Arohena, Waikato. Ađer using Queen of Calves for 11 years they can confidently say, over that ধme their calves have ‘bounced-back’ from illnesses and just kept on growing. Calf mortality rate is virtually zero.

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“OVER THE 11 YEARS WE’VE USED IT I CAN SAY IT PRODUCES A STRONG, HEALTHY AND PRODUCTIVE COW”

MAKING IT EASY...

Queen of Calves is fed to calves by mixing with milk, preferably wholemilk or stored colostrum. Most users mix it in batch quanধধes and feed by pouring into individual or group feeders, or via a calfateria in the paddock.

Automated calf feeding is gaining popularity. The Holm & Laue system, as shown below, is probably New Zealand’s favorite because it can precisely feed up to 150 calves their daily requirements of milk with Queen of Calves STARTER and/or FINISHER, according to the recommended program, as well as wean the calf according to breedtype and specified liveweight. It can provide the farm manager via smartphone with real ধme weight gain and feed consumpধon informaধon as well as alert to power cut or stall disable etc. We chose to represent Holm & Laue products in New Zealand because of the capacity and flexibility; no need to premix, just add the STARTER and FINISHER to the specified hoppers, the Holm & Laue does the rest.

NEED TO PASTEURISE YOUR CALF MILK?

For more informaধon go to www.bell-booth.co.nz

Copyright © March 2018, Bell-Booth Limited, 15 Tiki Place, Palmerston North, New Zealand e: info@bell-booth.co.nz w: www.queenofcalves.com and www.bell-booth.co.nz p: +64 6 358 9052 or within NZ 0800 80 90 92. All rights reserved.

Queen of Calves is a registered trademark of Bell-Booth Limited. No part of this document may be copied or used in any other format except with the wriħen permission of Bell-Booth Limited.

Disclaimer: E&OE. As the feeding of Queen of Calves STARTER and Queen of Calves FINISHER is beyond the manufacturer’s control, the manufacturer limits all responsibility and limitaধon for their use. The manufacturer reserves the right to amend the specificaধons and program recommendaধons without noধce. Not suitable for human consumpধon.

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JUST ADD TO MILK

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