Calf rearing- First timer

Irishfarminglad said:
Do you prefer buying calves still on milk then or do you see it as a gamble work taking?
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Calves should be weaned at around 80kg and eating 1.5kg meal per day over say a week.

The balancing act is to determine if the weaned calves have been weaned correctly and the additional cost over those on milk is worthwhile. In theory when they are weaned you should should be starting to get a better idea as to how they are shaping up - so you may have a better chance of avoiding the poor performing calves. Conversely, you are paying someone else to get them that far and then they take their cut out of the cake too. There is also an extra movement on the calf's passport.

With calves on milk, you can be sure they are weaned them correctly. There is also a better choice of stock. You take the risk that you have pulled in a poor one as there is no real way to tell how they'll turn out at such a young age. We always seem to have at least one that is stunted for one reason or another. When you get them on the meal you need to keep them going and not be holding them back. We are setup for feeding milk and its the way we have always done it. Buying in on milk is a gamble, as you have no real indicators of performance and with their young age they are more susceptible to pneumonia and other ailments.

Writing it down makes you realise that weaned is the better option, but on milk is how we buy, but I'm not sure if that will continue in the future. Depends on what breed & sex of calves that you want and how long you are willing to wait to get them.

We have a buyer who we get them from as we are PT and in no position to have an agreement with a diary farm - due to small numbers.
 
@Bot.exe @downtown125 - I'm pretty sure that a major part of the issue is the silage is being cut too late and cut shortly after poor weather. I'm expecting DMD to be low - mid 60's. I'd be be surprised if it was above or below this range. However, until the boss sees it in black and white I'm pissing into the wind.
Some folk just see the comfort of a pile of bales regardless of the quality. We used to concentrate more on sucklers and this poorer silage was good enough for them when the calves were weaned off them.
 
redpower said:
Calves should be weaned at around 80kg and eating 1.5kg meal per day over say a week.

The balancing act is to determine if the weaned calves have been weaned correctly and the additional cost over those on milk is worthwhile. In theory when they are weaned you should should be starting to get a better idea as to how they are shaping up - so you may have a better chance of avoiding the poor performing calves. Conversely, you are paying someone else to get them that far and then they take their cut out of the cake too. There is also an extra movement on the calf's passport.

With calves on milk, you can be sure they are weaned them correctly. There is also a better choice of stock. You take the risk that you have pulled in a poor one as there is no real way to tell how they'll turn out at such a young age. We always seem to have at least one that is stunted for one reason or another. When you get them on the meal you need to keep them going and not be holding them back. We are setup for feeding milk and its the way we have always done it. Buying in on milk is a gamble, as you have no real indicators of performance and with their young age they are more susceptible to pneumonia and other ailments.

Writing it down makes you realise that weaned is the better option, but on milk is how we buy, but I'm not sure if that will continue in the future. Depends on what breed & sex of calves that you want and how long you are willing to wait to get them.

We have a buyer who we get them from as we are PT and in no position to have an agreement with a diary farm - due to small numbers.
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Is that your hard rule on weaning? I personally wouldn't have that type of measurement, more so by age. Thankfully, we dont see much problems of calves eating meal so im not going to reinvent the wheel on what we do here...

yeah completely get where your coming from. You cant beat a well reared calf, but at the same time alot of work and money has gone in to get it to the 2/3/4 months stage. i guess what i would say about buying on milk is least you have a bit more control(feed them for longer etc) than you might get weaned.but there is more risk involved. Whats your preferred breed just out of curiosity?
 
@Irishfarminglad - no that is not what I go by. We mostly eyeball them - you get know.
The 80kg and 1.5kg/day info is guidelines I've read from various sources online.

I think you'd need to buy a few more than you need and drop off the weaker performers as you go along.
We would feed milk longer than most. It does help.

BBx heifers are what we usually go for. Intention was to either bull them and sell near note, or pull into herd if they look the part. But mostly they went for beef. Was always a few bad ones which was very annoying. Not sure if they came from them holsteins. British freisan would be a better dam in my eyes.

Plan now is to get some bull calves. Not sure what breed. Don't fancy BBx bulls after the escapades with the heifers.
Anyone got recommendations for decent bulls off dairy?
 
Is that your hard rule on weaning?
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@Irishfarminglad - spent a bit of time and dug out where I got those figures from:


At weaning, calves should be at least 80 kg.
...
A group of calves are ready to wean when they are routinely consuming 1.5 kg per head of high-quality starter feed a day.
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Nutritional guidance for dairy beef calves | AHDB

Explore our nutritional guidance for dairy beef calves, including milk replacers and starter feeds.
ahdb.org.uk ahdb.org.uk

Dermot Meehan from Drummonds also spoke about some of the best ways to enhance rumen development prior to weaning. He explained:
“In the first few weeks, you need to kick-start the rumen and this will encourage the calves and the amount of concentrates that they are eating.
Giving calves the availability of long forage will help this rumen development – along with access to clean water at all times.
“They should be eating at least 1-1.5kg/day of meal over a period of four or five days before weaning,” he concluded.
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www.agriland.ie

Weaning calves off milk replacer this spring - Agriland.ie

Pat Collins - a Teagasc Green Acres participant - spoke about the procedure when it comes to weaning calves on his farm.
www.agriland.ie www.agriland.ie
 
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