During the past decade, calf rearing systems around the world have adopted higher allowances of whole milk or of calf milk replacer, which is equivalent to or surpassing 20% of birth weight in litres per day.
The motivation behind this shift lies in the anticipation of enhanced early life growth and health, which translates into improved later-life performance.
Energy supply in the first 50 days of life has both immediate and long-term implications for animal survivability and productivity.
During this time, calves face significant demands for energy through increased susceptibility to stress and disease.
Supporting young calves by providing sufficient digestible energy via the milk feed can help prevent the crippling effects of disease outbreak in pre-weaned calves.
Supplying calves with a higher energy intake supports faster recovery while simultaneously promoting the development of the gastrointestinal tract, which is key in both short and longer-term resilience to disease.
Optimising nutrient intakes and milk quality in the first weeks of a calf’s life is a crucial strategy for any calf rearing system.
Increasing milk replacer volume and energy content and therefore elevating energy supply, is a proven strategy that results in long-term benefits to heifer fertility, survivability and lactation performance.
Young calves are driven to consume milk and allowing them to satisfy this behaviour from birth will help them to reach their feed curve peak as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The aim should be to match the natural lactation curve, so the peak allowance is typically consumed from as young as a few days old.
When calves are allowed to feed to appetite, signs of hunger stress, such as vocalisation or unrewarded visits to the feeder, are significantly reduced.
Response to disease is also impacted, as calves fed over 1kg of milk powder per day in the first three weeks of life can maintain hydration, recover quicker and have higher growth rates when challenged with cryptosporidium.
Alongside volume of milk fed to a calf, the milk replacer composition also plays an important role in calf growth and physiology.
Milk replacer composition has traditionally differed from that of bovine whole milk. The high inclusion of byproducts from the dairy industry lead to excessive lactose levels, while fat inclusions remain comparatively low.
Subsequently, energy density in calf milk replacers is lower, thus providing less energy to calves to support thermoregulation, immune function and deliver energy for key organ development in early life.
Higher lactose levels also increase osmolality of the milk replacer solution which can have negative effects on gut integrity and increase the risk of abomasal bloat and diarrhoea challenges.
As more farmers adopt higher planes of nutrition, ensuring that the nutrients in milk replacer formulas are properly balanced is essential.
It has been reported that increasing the fat intake from liquid feed: reduced the number of medical interventions, reduced hunger-related behaviour during weaning in ad-lib fed calves, reduced mortality in preweaning calves, improved intestinal development and improved faecal scores.
This research is the basis on which Milkivit EnergiZer has been designed with higher energy and lower osmolality thus using bovine milk as a reference.
Ensuring that feeding strategies are designed to maximise energy intakes is not about choosing between milk feeding or starter feed.
It should focus on supplying the calf with the correct nutrients in the correct form to optimise performance.
Weaning strategies are crucial to ensure a smooth transition from a liquid feed to a starter feed diet. Weaning method, time and period significantly influences calf performance and rumen development, particularly when high amounts of milk are fed during the pre-weaning period.
References to the research studies are available on request.
