Have you ever felt like you keep doing all the things you’re supposed to when it comes to rearing calves but there’s little change to your production levels or farm profitability?
Of course, rearing calves is just like any other kind of animal agriculture: “We’re managing biology for profit.”
So, how can we manage calf biology and still make a profit?
That’s simple, we need to manage the size of the ‘holes in our bucket’.
Picture this…
You have a nice, new bucket. No scratches, no dents, no leaks. Pretend this bucket is your calf, on the day the cow is confirmed pregnant.
The calf is growing happily inside the cow, but the cow gets heat stressed, there isn’t enough good quality grass for her to eat, or she’s lacking in essential minerals. A couple of dents appear on your new bucket, not enough to destroy the bucket, but enough to compromise it ever so slightly.
The calf is born, she lands face-first into cold, wet mud.
She’s left outdoors for a few hours before being collected, then she gets a 2L of colostrum that is 18% BRIX.
Now this is going to really start impacting your bucket – a ¼ inch hole appears ¾ of the way down the side of the bucket. Again, not the end of the world, but you will never be able to fill the bucket all the way to the top again.
You then realise that the bucket holding the colostrum was stirred with a dirty stick.
This puts a couple of deep scratches in the side of the bucket, leaving more opportunity for bacteria and other things to get in where they shouldn’t be.
The calf is moved to the calf pen.
It’s below 15˚C and it’s draughty, this puts another hole in the bucket.
She gets fed 2 x 2L milk replacer per day when it’s less than 15˚C and she doesn’t have a jacket on, that’s another (bigger) hole in the bucket. What if that milk replacer is also low quality? Another hole. What if she gets fed at a different time every day? Hole. What if she gets cold milk sometimes? Hole. What if she gets fed with dirty equipment? Hole.
Say she is constantly stressed from too much ammonia in the environment, this puts another hole in your bucket.
Suddenly you have this bucket that used to hold 17L, and now can only hold 5L, and only for a little while because all of those smaller holes are constantly leaking.
You started with a beautiful calf, and her potential has been beaten and battered by all these stressors.
Now, what can you do to minimise the number of holes your calves get in their buckets?
Patch your bucket with the right toolkit, and get the right advice to make those products for you…
Sprayfo Delta Energised Calf Milk
Sprayfo Blue Premium Calf Milk Replacer
Launchpad18 Colostrum
Stalosan F
