We have a tendency to name machines and cars, especially the ones that work well for us. Have you noticed, men always refer to machines in the female gender? We can only assume it’s because the women in their lives are so reliable.

My lady of the moment is Evolution Daisy. She stepped forward in all her black and amber glory to lighten the workload in the calf shed. She is one of the JFC Evolution automatic calf feeders. For a company based in Tuam, I never understand why my Daisy sports the Kilkenny colours. Nevertheless, we’ll get over that. It’s all about performance.

Newborn calves

The first few weeks of calving are busy as new calves keep coming. The time spent giving adequate colostrum, three litres or more, within two hours of birth will pay dividends for ongoing calf health. In the first hour, the calf’s suck reflex is so strong that it is fed easily but will still take 20 minutes to suck three litres.

On a typical morning here, we are picking up four newborn calves. That’s 80 minutes alone to feed them. I remind myself when each calf is born that its gut is naive. I am completely responsible for giving that calf immunity against disease for its entire life.

The first thing that must enter its mouth is cleanly harvested colostrum from the dam or another cow’s colostrum. This is tested with the refractometer and it must read 22 or more and then be refrigerated (22% corresponds to 50 mg/ml of immunoglobulin).

I heat the colostrum in the bottle in a water bath that is just a little more than hand hot. We keep the calf feeding bottles in a solution of Milton.

Sometimes, we forget the most basic things. Always ensure that your gloves are new or freshly washed between calves. Gloves are expensive so I advocate a good glove wash with an antimicrobial cleanser between calves. We recycle gloves – when the busy period ends, I wash them and use them for painting and other chores.

Footbaths are important at all entrances to the calf shed but are ineffective if not renewed at least weekly. It is important to pay attention to yard clothes too. They can be a direct vector for bacteria if they’re not kept clean.

Daisy at work

The calves are batch fed on 10 teat feeders for the first 10 days. We vaccinate for rota virus so it is imperative that the calves continue to receive transition milk during that time. Some farmers consider 10 days too long. I stick by the experience that it works for us.

It can seem a long time when the men are asking, “when are the calves moving onto the automatic feeders?” They are anxious to be putting milk in the tank for sale instead of pumping it out to the calf shed.

In the last few days, Evolution Daisy has accepted 30 calves into her care. She’s keeping a close eye on the calves, measuring how much they drink and more importantly putting a red x after their numbers if they miss a feed. Sinéad our apprentice and I can then follow up and make sure the calf is feeding.

Meanwhile, Daisy allows us more time to feed the younger calves. Daisy and the other Evolution feeder known as Dandelion are no help in the first few weeks of calving. That workload and busyness doesn’t change.

They come into their own at the three-week stage when there are enough calves over 10 days old to warrant starting up the system. Our attention can continue to be focused on the diligent care of the new-born calves. Our time is also freed up to be monitoring each one for little problems that might arise.

We are nearly at the half way mark.