Post by simplynaturalfarm on Mar 11, 2008 12:04:08 GMT -5
I always enjoy our Dairy Herd and Beef veterinarian magazines and have shared tidbits from them in the past - why a gallon of milk replacer or milk per day is not very accurate for feeding calves when it simply gives them subsistence diet and does not take heat, cold, stress, immunity into account. Why many dairies, vets and universities are doubling the solids with great success in re. to calf hnealth etc.
Anyway, read another tiny tidbit that I thought was good.
"are dairy and beef calves different?
Dairy and beef calves are the same species, but their nutritional needs have been traditionally met very differently in production sytesm.
"A beef calf's birth weight is typically about 70-75% of the average dairy calf's " notes Don Reichert" However by six months of age, beef calves typically weigh about 600 while dairy calves are a mere 350-400lbs at the same age. Much of the difference is explained by what happens to those animals nutritionally in those first months of life. A beef calf nursing its dam consumes about 3 gallons of whole milk per day. WIth total solids averaging 12.5% the calf receives about 3.23 lbs of solids per day. Compare that to the diet of calves fed the standard two quarts, twice per day ration of conventional 20:30 milk replacer. Those calves receive just one pound of solids per day. This disparity also explains at least partially the higher clinical disease incidence and lower immunity in young dairy calvews. If we feed young animals a subsistence diet, we can't expect their health and performance to match that of an animal that is fed for growth. We in the dairy industry can take a page from our friends in the beef business, where calves are everything, and they feed them accordingly."
Anyway, read another tiny tidbit that I thought was good.
"are dairy and beef calves different?
Dairy and beef calves are the same species, but their nutritional needs have been traditionally met very differently in production sytesm.
"A beef calf's birth weight is typically about 70-75% of the average dairy calf's " notes Don Reichert" However by six months of age, beef calves typically weigh about 600 while dairy calves are a mere 350-400lbs at the same age. Much of the difference is explained by what happens to those animals nutritionally in those first months of life. A beef calf nursing its dam consumes about 3 gallons of whole milk per day. WIth total solids averaging 12.5% the calf receives about 3.23 lbs of solids per day. Compare that to the diet of calves fed the standard two quarts, twice per day ration of conventional 20:30 milk replacer. Those calves receive just one pound of solids per day. This disparity also explains at least partially the higher clinical disease incidence and lower immunity in young dairy calvews. If we feed young animals a subsistence diet, we can't expect their health and performance to match that of an animal that is fed for growth. We in the dairy industry can take a page from our friends in the beef business, where calves are everything, and they feed them accordingly."