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WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
9
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
CAL F HEALTH
New initiative focuses on accelerating calf
growth
to advance heifer breeding age
The growth rate in the first eight weeks of a calf’s life has a
massive impact on its future performance - in both dairy and
beef systems.
Research has shown that the optimum age
for a dairy heifer at first calving is at 22-24
months of age, to maximise lifetime milk yields.
Calculating back, this means heifer calves
need to be averaging growth rates of 850g-
1kg/day, so that they can be bred at 13-15
months of age, by which time they need to
have reached 60% of their adult bodyweight.
Similarly, suckler cows should be calving at
two years of age, not three.
This autumn XLVets is launching a scheme
to help beef and dairy farms to accelerate
growth rates in young calves, and enjoy
the benefits of getting heifers in-calf sooner.
This will not only lower rearing costs, but also
means financial returns can be gained sooner.
Over the past year, a similar scheme has been
running for clients by XLVets’ Westmorland
Veterinary Group, led by vet Kirsty Ranson.
‘Healthy Heifers’
Kirsty explains: ‘On many dairy farms, the
milking herd is the focus, and it can be a
struggle to find time for the calves. Striking the
right time balance between the two is the key.’
In a bid to help Westmorland’s dairy farming
clients to re-focus some time on calf rearing,
a ‘Healthy Heifers’ competition was launched
in September 2014 with prizes for the best
performers.
Targets were set for calf performance, and
all it required was for farmers to record some
key parameters. Growth rates would be
calculated, and any illnesses and deaths
recorded so they could be reviewed. After
an initial free introductory period, farmers paid
a small monthly charge to cover the extra vet
time on-farm, and the cost of blood tests and
data analysis (6-monthly).
25 dairy farmers signed up to it, and 18
completed a full data set. The data is
collated at Westmorland, and has enabled
benchmarking across the different farms and
rearing systems.
Kirsty explains: ‘To make the best use of time,
we vets would look at the calves during our
routine fertility visits. For calves less than two
months old, we measured their weights either
using weigh bands to calculate their growth
rates, or with a weigh cell which the farmer
already had, or invested in. We took blood
samples to assess colostrum intakes, and asked
farmers to record all mortalities in the first eight
weeks of life, and the number of pneumonia
and scour cases in each 3-month period.
Bulling weights and calving dates were also
recorded by some.
‘Because we were now seeing calves on
farms where perhaps we had only looked
at the adult cattle before, we were able to
make recommendations to improve some
of the practical elements of calf rearing –
housing and feeding. By measuring calf
performance, it was easy to monitor the
impact of any changes that were made,
and assess their cost:benefit.‘
Veterinary surgeon
Kirsty Ranson
XLVets practice
Westmorland Veterinary
Group
KIRSTY RANSON, WESTMORLAND VETERINARY GROUP