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Autumn calving is in full swing on dairy farms across Northern Ireland and the number of calves offered for sale via private deals, or through marts, is increasing week on week.
In recent years, there has been a rise in the number of farmers getting into dairy calf to beef systems.
As with all aspects of farming, running a profitable calf-to-beef herd requires a high level of management at all stages of the production cycle.
Poor management will increase mortality levels during the early stages of calf rearing, and ultimately, significant financial losses will be incurred.
System
The key element to running a well-managed calf unit is to establish a system for feeding, grazing, housing and finishing that can be easily repeated each year.
With a structured system in place, it becomes easier to hone the skills that allow management to become more efficient.
Chopping and changing between calf type, age of calf purchased etc makes it impossible to improve herd management.
For farmers getting into calf rearing for the first time this winter, outlined are some tips to keep in mind.
1. Know your market before buying calves
As mentioned, the most successful dairy calf-to-beef herds have a well-managed and defined system in place.
Don’t start buying calves without giving thought to the end market. Think about what system you wish to operate, then buy calves to suit.
For example, if the aim is to finish cattle off -grass, then autumn-born heifers sired by beef bulls are a good option.
Other factors to consider include the availability of grazing ground and housing space currently on the farm.
If grazing ground and housing are limited, then bull beef may be a better option than a steer finishing system. Again, this should be reflected in the age and type of calf purchased.
2. Buy a consistent calf type
Sourcing the right calf will make or break the system. Calves can be purchased privately, through an agent or from the mart.
Buying good quality, consistent calves makes it easier to manage animals. Consistency means buying calves of similar age, size, breed and sex and all four factors will influence calf price.
3. Purchase calves over a short time period
Another crucial aspect of running a profitable calf-rearing system is to buy each intake of animals over a short time period.
Calves will be initially under stress by the change in environment, which can make them vulnerable to disease.
If calves are purchased in small numbers on a weekly basis over several months, it means there is always a disease challenge coming on to the farm each week.
Buying animals over a shorter window means that once calves get over the initial stresses from the change in environment, that disease challenge is greatly reduced.
4. Managing calves arriving on farm
Calves arriving on the farm will be under stress and should get priority management for that first week.
Unload calves to straw-bedded pens with good ventilation, as well as good light to make it easier to monitor animals. Offer fresh hay/straw and concentrate to stimulate appetite.
Check body temperature on a few calves within the first 24 to 48 hours of arriving on farm and keep a close eye for animals slow to come forward when milk is offered.
Delay routine vaccines for at least 24 hours to allow calves to settle, thereby lowering stress levels. Once settled, calves can be vaccinated, dehorned if necessary and moved to larger group pens.
5. Lying space
Providing adequate lying space in group pens is important. If animals are to achieve high levels of daily liveweight and hit target weaning weights, they cannot be overstocked.
For calves around one month of age up to weaning, which for a beef-sired calf is a weight range of 50kg to 140kg, aim to provide around 1.8m2 to 2m2 of lying space per animal.
6. Bedding
Calves will spend 80% of their time lying, so they should always have access to dry bedding. Wet, soiled bedding is a haven for disease.
Forcing calves to lie on wet, soiled bedding will lower the animal’s core body temperature. That means calves need to burn more energy to stay warm.
Burning more energy to stay warm means there is less energy to drive weight gain. If calves struggle to maintain body temperature, they also become immuno-suppressed and more prone to disease.
As a rule of thumb, if you kneel on the bedding in calf pens and your knees feel damp, then extra bedding is required.
7. Choosing a powdered milk replacer
Farmers have the option to buy calves and feed milk powder, or purchase older animals that are weaned.
If buying calves still on milk, use a good quality milk powder with 22% to 26% crude protein on a dry matter basis and 16% to 20% fat content.
Make sure the mixing rate is properly followed. For a milk powder with a mixing rate of 125g per litre, this means add 125g of powder to 875ml of warm water to make up one litre of milk.
Choosing a milk powder with added minerals is recommended, as is a product with probiotics that aid digestion and maintain a healthy gut.
8. Feeding rates for powdered milk
Calves should be fed 750g to 900g/day of milk powder up to weaning and this will determine how many litres of milk to feed.
At the outlined feed rates, beef-bred calves should be comfortably gaining 0.6kg to 0.8kg/day of liveweight, if not closer to 0.9kg/day for animals bred from high genetic merit sires.
That means for a milk powder fed at 125g per litre, calves require six litres of milk per day. This should be split evenly between two feeds.
As a rule of thumb, calves should weigh double their birth weight by the time they are eight weeks old.
For a continental beef-sired calf weighing 40kg at birth, that means a 40kg gain over 56 days or a daily gain of 0.71kg/day. Ideally, wean calves off milk around 100kg liveweight. Assuming the same beef sired calf is gaining 0.8kg/day, it will reach weaning weight around 10 weeks of age.
Once calves are eating 1kg of concentrate for three consecutive days, milk can be gradually weaned from the diet over a 10 to 14-day period, as meal will substitute energy and protein.
9. Concentrate and fibre source
Calves should have access to a starter ration from an early age. Feeding meal in small quantities to keep it fresh will encourage higher intakes.
Always clean the trough before offering meal.
Straights like molasses, sugar beet pulp and citrus beet pulp are ideal in starter rations. Choose a feed with at least 18% crude protein and 12Mj ME (energy).
Coarse blends and pencil pellets are ideal products to get calves eating concentrate. Providing fresh drinking water is also crucial once concentrate is offered.
Similarly, provide a high dry matter forage on an ad-lib basis, as this aids rumen development in young calves.
10. Post-weaning
Continue to offer calves anywhere from 1kg to 1.5kg/day of concentrate post-weaning, along with hay or good-quality straw. High dry matter silage can gradually be introduced to the diet.
Next spring, slip calves out to grass. Rotational grazing will help keep high-quality grass in front of calves, driving weight gain.
Keep on top of parasite control at grass and once sward quality starts to decline, re-introduce concentrate at 1kg/day to maintain weight gains.
Rearing calves comes at a cost with inputs like milk powder, concentrate and straw required daily up to weaning.
It is always worthwhile keeping an eye on these costs.
Monitoring liveweight gain will show if animals are covering inputs by hitting target weaning weights at a certain age.
To calculate rearing costs, our example assumes good quality, beef sired bull calves are purchased around four weeks old in November.
Daily feeds
Animals are fed six litres of milk powder daily for the first three weeks at a rate of 125g/litre. Over the next two weeks, calves peak at eight litres of milk daily.
Milk is then weaned from the diet, starting at five litres/day for a week, then three litres and a final week at two litres daily, bringing calves up to 12 weeks old. Milk powder consumed is 39kg, which is basically two bags, costing £45 each.
Meal starts at 0.5kg/day for the first three weeks, increasing to 0.75kg/day over the next three weeks and the final two weeks at 1kg/day.
The total meal fed is 40kg/head, costing £16 for a ration at £400/t. Factoring in one round bale of straw per calf at £30 brings common rearing costs to £136 for the example farm.
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