“Now that I have been using Sprayfo for a while, I will never go back.”

Posted on July 15, 2022 in Testimonial

Another rearer who swears by Sprayfo lamb milk replacers is Jo Hay. Since she made the switch, she hasn’t lost a single lamb to abomasal bloat.

Jo and Ross Hay own Springbank Farm at Herbert in North Otago. On 700ha, they have 2,850 breeding ewes – rearing their own replacements and lamb hoggets. They also run a beef finishing unit, finishing 250 R1’s before the second winter, plus 250 bull calves and 80 beef steers.

The Hays rear as few orphan lambs as possible, with the goal being for the ewe to rear her own lambs. However, aside from mothering on orphan lambs, Jo takes approximately 60 each season through to weaning. With a target weight of 18kgs, Jo aims to produce thriving animals.

“At the end of the day we want all the lambs to be finished. And a better start for the lambs is better for everyone” she explains.

Jo says she came across Sprayfo when she was losing lambs to bloat, mostly at 4-6 weeks old.

“Two to three animals would be dead some mornings and it was always the best ones. Occasionally we found as many as 10 lambs dead; it was heart-breaking.

“I tried yoghurtising but, at the end of the day, I didn’t have time to muck around. Then I read an article where Lynley Wyeth talked about Sprayfo lamb milk replacers.

“Now that I have been using Sprayfo for a while, I will never go back. I haven’t lost a single lamb to bloat, plus Sprayfo is easy to mix and we’ve had no issues with quality.”

Last season Jo gave every lamb that came in a feed of Launchpad18™ colostrum, they also get a healthy dose of iodine on the navel.

“Launchpad18 is easy to measure and to mix. It takes the guess work out of colostrum management.”

She then reared most of the lambs on Sprayfo Alpha for the first three weeks and finished them on Sprayfo Primo.

“This feeding regime resulted in the best lambs we’ve ever had; growth rates were fantastic. This year we hope to rear all the lambs with this product combination.”

An adlib feeding system was added three years ago. “The adlib feeder was life changing” says Jo. “The lambs always look good, they’re never hollow. They may drink more but are finished earlier.”

The other product in her toolkit is Stalosan F. Jo puts it on the dirt floors before the bedding goes down and then “chucks a bit more on each week.”

Jo has used Sprayfo Blue to rear calves too. “I was a bit hesitant to put calves on a whey-based milk replacer” she admits, “but I did, and they looked fantastic.” She hasn’t reared calves for the last few years.

Rearing advice, product information, rearing guides, Jo is a big advocate of AgriVantage. “We had lots of practical advice on set up in the early stages. We’ve been put in touch with other rearers and learned so much. Cheryl gives us great service, she’s always so helpful and we feel pretty lucky to have her.

“I absolutely recommend AgriVantage rearing products, they are my ‘go to’. They work, we get good results and I see no reason to change.”