Rumen development key to weight gain

Words: Donaghys
The goal of calf rearing is to produce a healthy calf that can grow at the required rate solely on a diet of grass as soon as possible.

Grass is cheaper than milk or meal, and having a calf that can be weaned sooner reduces labour inputs—making the rearing process less time consuming and more cost effective.

Weaning calves sooner is all about developing the calf’s rumen.

The rumen is an out pouching of the oesophagus that develops over time. Calves are born with a small rumen which must increase in size up to 20-fold before that calf can be weaned.

ProCalf from Donaghys is a product that can help calves develop their rumens quicker.

ProCalf contains a blend of yeast, bacterial extracts, enzymes and AgResearch-licensed live microbes— all vital parts of a developing healthy rumen.

ProCalf also contains rennet which improves digestion and reduces the chances of calves developing nutritional scours.

In a trial, treated calves were 6.7 kg heavier than untreated controls at 6 weeks after the start of the study.

The most telling statistic for ProCalf was that at this time, 80 per cent of the treated calves were able to be weaned compared to only 27 per cent of the untreated controls.

Being able to wean calves earlier significantly improves the cost-effectiveness of the calf rearing process by reducing milk, meal and labour inputs.

In another study completed by AgResearch, calf intakes were shown to be increased by 6.3 per cent in calves treated with ProCalf.

Increased intakes mean more meal eaten, and this in turn means that calves are able to be weaned sooner.

ProCalf is an easy-to-use product mixed with milk.

Calves are given 5 mL as an initial dose on arrival at the calf rearers or their first whole milk (not colostrum) feed, and are then given 2 mL per head per day till weaning.

If calves are noticed to be unthrifty or are suffering from dietary scours, they can be given ProCalf as a supportive treatment at a rate of 5–10 mL per head per day.

ProCalf is available in 1, 10 and 20 litre pack sizes as well as a convenient five litre backpack.

Although rearing calves is a complex and intensive process, we should remember what the end goals are—a healthy weaned calf, growing at the required growth rate on a solely grass diet.

ProCalf is a product that can help your customers improve the efficiency of their calf rearing system this spring.