LIVESTOCK: The CalfExpert automatic feeder intelligently deals with feeding whole milk and replacer to calves. The result is healthy animals and optimised feeding costs. Here is our field report.
There has been a lot of research carried out on linking cow performance with optimum health in the first few weeks after birth. If you can properly meet the feeding needs at this stage, then these animals also undergo a form of ‘metabolic programming’ (Geiger et al. 2016).
The first 50 days count
In the first seven weeks of life, cells in organs divide faster than they do after this early stage. As a consequence, if intensive feeding occurs during this early stage, the organs will produce more cells than they would under a restrictive feeding regime. This means that, within a fairly short period of time, they are ‘programmed’ to maximum milk performance. Sounds good.
At the beginning of their lives, calves are dependent on whole milk or comparable high-quality, and therefore more costly, milk replacer (MAT) products. Considering calves are fed milk up to around 120 days old and drink an average of 10 litres per day when fed ad-lib, the goal of metabolic programming of newborn calves is certainly not a cheap option.
This is where the CalfExpert comes into play: Holm & Laue’s automatic feeder supplies calves from the third day of life with freshly warmed whole milk which is stored in an adjacent tank. Meanwhile older calves can be fed a mix of whole milk and MAT — it is up to the farmer to program the feeder as to timing and level of MAT concentration for the individual calves until they are weaned.
Feeding whole milk and powder is no longer a major challenge for a modern automatic feeder. What makes the CalfExpert special are its options such as Whole Milk Smart.
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