Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

Dairy producers can get their heifers to freshen earlier and get about 2,000 to 3,000 pounds more milk in their first lactation if they increase heifer calves' nutrition during their first eight weeks of life, according to several university studies.

“The calf is extremely efficient on utilizing milk protein their first eight weeks,” said Don Reichert, during a workshop he gave at the Central Plains Dairy Expo in Sioux Falls, S.D., March 19.

Reichert is a national accounts sales and technical manager for Land O'Lakes Animal Products. He basically encourages dairy producers to feed their dairy heifers more like beef calves.

“Back in the early 1950s when milk replacer first came on the market, producers didn't want to spend a lot for it so they thought they would feed a pound a day and figured that the calves would catch up when they put them on starter,” Reichert said. “Well that never happened. At 5 to 6 months of age, a beef calf will weigh about 500 to 600 pounds and a dairy animal, fed on limited replacer will only weigh about 350 to 400 pounds.”

He says that while the dairy heifer calf is only fed milk replacer that provides them with 20-22 percent protein and 20 percent fat, the beef calf is getting about eight meals a day that includes 28 percent protein and about 30 percent fat.

Reichert says that if dairy heifers were fed this same ration during their first eight weeks of life, they would freshen about two to two and a half months earlier. According to university studies, Reichert says a strong start can result in a heifer producing as much as 2,000 to 3,000 more pounds of milk during her first lactation.

“An aggressive heifer program is the name of the game to get her into the milking string as quickly as possible,” said Reichert, who has been working with milk replacer and starter feed and calf management for 26 years. “This pays off - extra milk replacer may cost about $150 more than the traditional replacer, however, if a heifer freshens two and a half months earlier you get an extra $250 in income over feed costs so the producer is still $100 net ahead.”

Reichert shared an example of a dairy near Sioux Falls, that started using the full growth potential milk replacer with 28 percent protein and 20 percent fat about six years ago.

“They reduced their calving age from 24.5-25 months of age to 22-22.5 months of age. At first they were concerned that breeding and calving their heifers at 11.5 to 12 months of age would bring up problems, but they didn't have any problems because the heifers were large enough at breeding,” Reichert said. “They also felt that the cows were stronger on their feet and legs.”

Healthier calves are another benefit to providing more nutrition to heifer calves earlier in life, Reichert said.

“A number of studies show that 25 percent of the energy consumed by a calf goes into developing their immune system. Anytime you short the calf's nutrition it doesn't grow and develop an immune system because the only thing the calf is doing is trying to stay alive,” Reichert said.

Important maintenance practices

When increasing the nutrition program in young heifer calves, Reichert reminds producers to make sure that the calf receives enough colostrum during its first one to six hours after birth.

“Since you are putting more nutrients into the animal, producers need to increase their management practices,” Reichert said.

He adds that when increasing the amount of solids that a calf receives the calf needs to have free-choice warm water available at all times.

“With more nutrients you'll get more gain. For every pound of gain it takes 4 pounds of water to put that gain on,” Reichert said.

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