Calf Rearing

One of the biggest worries we had with increasing cow numbers and compacting the calving season was how we would deal with calf rearing. However we have discovered simple ways of coping with large numbers of calves. Fresh calved cows are milked using a dump line. Milk is pumped into a separate tank where it forms a colostrum culture. This milk requires regular agitation to ensure fermentation is aerobic and not anaerobic. Antibiotic must be kept out or the culture will be killed. Treated cows are milked into dump buckets.

Calves are started in individual pens where they are fed with a bucket with a peach teat. Calves are then batched into groups of around 18 and fed once-a-day with a barrel feeder.

This system has shown a number of significant benefits. It has meant a dramatic reduction in the time taken to feed calves. It is inexpensive to set up. Teats cost £2-£3 and barrels aren't in shortage on most farms. A key advantage is that calves no longer have to be fed during milking. The calves are healthier as the sucking action produces lots of saliva and the milk is also less likely to enter the rumen. With less scours and a short calf rearing period there is less disease build up and veterinary costs are reduced. It also means that we can cope with batch calving without calf rearing becoming a major headache.