With repeat customers every year, Jim, Pat and James Mulcahy believe optimising the milk feeding stage is the key determinant of a calf’s lifetime potential.
The Mulcahys manage their dairy herd in Burncourt, Co. Tipperary. The father and son partnership keeps approximately 40 replacement heifers every year, with remainder calves being sold locally or through marts.
The Mulcahys are an excellent example of optimum calf husbandry and management.
Once the calf hits the ground, quality colostrum is given immediately within 30 minutes. All calves remain on transition milk for seven to 10 days in groups of five to 10, before moving onto the automatic calf feeder.
Calves are in groups of 20 and are being fed Dairygold’s Prime Elite 23 calf milk replacer.
Prime Elite 23 is a 23% protein and 20% fat milk replacer, providing optimum frame growth and mammary development for heifer calves, while also ensuring carcass gain for beef calves.
Milk feeding stage
Upon introduction to the feeder, calves begin on 5L of solids milk replacer at 12.5% concentration for three to five days, then build up to 6L by 200ml/day.
This ensures a smooth transition as it moves a calf from whole milk to a replacement powder and also an automated system and larger group size. It is imperative to keep stress to a minimum during this timeframe.
During the full feed period, calves are fed of milk replacer per day at 125g/875ml or 750g/calf/day to encourage intake of concentrates.
Due to the suboptimum weather conditions faced by farms this spring, temperatures varied and put stress on sheds, so the Mulcahys decided to blanket feed Precision Microbes for first 40 days of life to give the calf crop the best start and prevent any stress induced upsets.
All calves have access to ad lib straw and fresh drinking water.
As soon as calves go into groups of 20 on the automated feeder, they receive:
- Prime Elite Rumi Starter mix, 18% calf muesli;
- Kaf Gro 16%;
- Prime Elite Rumiforce 16% at grass.
Calves are fully weaned at 11-12 weeks-of-age. They then move to a paddock adjacent to the calf shed and have access day and night to both grass and shed for first two to three weeks of transition.
Since deciding to use Prime Elite 23 due to its high-quality whey protein, the Mulcahys have seen a huge difference in their calves.
“It allows the calves to get the right start, which helps them to double their birth weight by the time they are weaned,” Jim said.
“The consistent performance and added health packages of the of the Prime Elite 23 is also a deciding factor for us,” Jim added.
The Mulcahys find it gives the calves a better frame for confirmation and calves are more uniform. It also helps achieves key performance indicators (KPIs) on the farm.
The family aims for an appropriate live weight target of >100kg. This is often surpassed, as calves gone to the mart this year at three-weeks-of-age averaged between 55-70kg, which is a testament to the calf rearer.
The Mulcahys use a four-station Forster Technik DeLaval CF100S supplied and fitted by Condon Dairy Services.
The key ingredient in Prime Elite 23 is Immunopro, which contains:
- Over 4.5% IgG which are responsible for the calf health found in colostrum;
- High levels of key amino acids for growth and development;
- High levels of bovine milk oligosaccharides, which help develop a healthy gut bacterial population;
- High levels of lactoferrin important for gut health and has been shown to reduce scours.
Immunopro is carefully blended at low temperatures to ensure all ingredients are evenly combined and that none of the proteins are denatured.
The blend is balanced with the correct levels of proteins, fats and sugars for maximum growth and development of the calf. Once blended in the liquid phase, it is then sprayed dry to ensure great mixability, palatability and consistency.
Prime Elite 23 also contains the following added health packages:
- Gardion gut conditioner which is derived from garlic. It can enhance the immune system of the calf. This helps to improve the gut health in the calf, which is important to maintain good growth and thrive. “Since using Prime Elite 23 we have found a significant reduction with scour or sick calves.”;
- Butyrate a fatty acid energy source with anti-microbial properties that improves gut function;
- Acidification helps to maintain optimum gut conditions encouraging beneficial gut bacteria and discouraging the pathogens that cause scours and limit performance.
