Julie Wyatt has run a beef finishing unit for 15 years in Oxford, Canterbury. Buying in weaned calves, she fattens them until they are 18 months to 2 years old. A meticulous keeper of records year after year, Julie has noticed an exponential increase in growth rates in her 2022 calves.
The only difference is that those calves were reared on Sprayfo milk replacers.
“We are looking at the same scenario, same sort of season, same stock supplier, so this is comparing apples with apples” says Julie. “And these are by far the best calves we’ve ever had!”
Julie’s calves come from calf rearer Wendy Williams. In 2022, Wendy switched to using AgriVantage’s Sprayfo calf milk replacers – first feeding the calves on Sprayfo Delta whole milk replacer twice a day for three to four weeks and then Sprayfo Blue whey-based powder, once a day, to weaning at 90kgs. The calves also had ad lib access to muesli and water from the start.
Julie purchased 25 Speckled Park X and 5 Hereford calves from Wendy in late November 2022.
Since then, these animals have grazed only on pasture with access to multi-mineral lick blocks and are drenched regularly.
Julie is astounded at the performance of her Sprayfo reared calves.
“The Sprayfo calves are putting on 900g to 1kg a day, just on pasture. At 8 months (in May 2023), they averaged 235kg. In 2020, we achieved 230kg in September – and we may have fed baylage to those animals too,” she said.
“Our biggest Hereford in the current bunch is already 300kg. By February-March, that animal will be approximately 400kgs!”
Julie puts these results down to Wendy’s system and to Sprayfo.
“Wendy is selective on stock, she has a good rearing system and she insists on good nutrition. In the case of these calves, I believe they’ve made such good gains due to their rumen development pre-weaning – which must be attributed to being reared on Sprayfo, because nothing else has changed.”
By growing better animals, Julie can achieve her objective to down stock and run a more sustainable business.
“For several years, we battled to finish 100 weaners, leasing extra land next door” Julie explains. “The animals didn’t grow, we got stuck with the lower end and we suffered big losses.
“We made some changes; started to grass the farm in between, cutting 40-50 acres in baleage. And we committed to getting a smaller group of good calves.
“With the performance of these 30 animals and with more grass, we have options. We can run a successful business on 100 acres, selling around 400 bales of baleage, instead of feeding those $100 bales to our stock.
“And, we have the capacity to get in another 40 great calves while we finish these yearlings through to April. Because, based on their performance so far, it doesn’t make sense to sell them as yearlings. We’d simply be making it easy for the next person to reap the full benefits.”
Read more about how these calves were reared and why calf rearer Wendy Williams is such a strong advocate for Sprayfo calf milk replacers after just one season.
