How to properly feed newborn calves

0

4900

Article rating

Calf feeding takes an important place in the care of young animals. It is important to carry it out correctly, since the development of babies, their fertility and the amount of milk in the future depend on it.

Feeding calves

There are many ways to feed calves. All of them have their pros and cons, a detailed video will help you choose the best option. It is necessary to carry out drinking in several stages. This can be done with water, milk or colostrum. Solid feeds should be introduced slowly.

Also, when raising calves, do not forget about proper care for young individuals: only creating the right conditions and good drinking will allow you to raise a healthy calf.

Why do you need colostrum

Feeding colostrum is the first and incredibly important step in calf care. It occurs when the calf is less than a week old. Colostrum contains a lot of nutrients that a growing body needs: it contains the right amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, trace elements and vitamins.

Colostrum not only enriches the body with useful substances, but also gives energy. Partially, the energy from colostrum is twice that from the by-product. It contains three times more minerals, six times more proteins, a hundred times more vitamin A. Its components are also special enzymes that are responsible for the assimilation of food by the animal's body. They improve digestion, protect the digestive system, and increase the acidity of the stomach.

The role of colostrum in maintaining immunity is no less important. During the first two days, antibodies in colostrum are easily absorbed by young animals, since the acidity of the calf's stomach is low, its enzymes are few, and therefore there is simply no one to dissolve them. Antibodies support the immune system, make the body less susceptible to viral, bacterial and other diseases, in the right amount they prevent any infection from entering during the first 10 days from birth.

An increase in acidity due to colostrum is also necessary to protect a young organism from an aggressive external environment. Therefore, conditions are created in the gastrointestinal tract in which harmful bacteria cannot develop.

Feeding calves with colostrum

Feeding calves with colostrum is an important stage in the development of young animals, affecting their entire subsequent life. Today there are many ways to feed newborn calves in industrial and domestic conditions. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, and therefore it is important to prioritize correctly.

There are rules that absolutely all pastoralists should keep in mind. Common Calf Feeding Scheme:

1. The first feeding is carried out in the first half hour or hour from birth, moreover, the volume should be clearly calculated.
2. The rate of colostrum during the first feeding is 4-6% of the calf's weight, usually about 1-2 liters of colostrum.
3. In total, on the first day, the newborn is given such a volume, which will be about 17-20% of its total mass (in terms of liters - from 5 to 7).
4. On the second day, this figure is slightly increased, in total it should be 20-24% of the total weight of the calf.

Important:

1. Feeding calves up to a week old is carried out slowly, because in a fragile body, colostrum may simply not be absorbed, gather into a lump and cause diarrhea in the animal.
2. It is important to monitor the temperature of the liquid that is given to newborns: it should be limited to 35-37 ° C.
3. On the first day, colostrum is given 5-6 times, then gradually reduce the amount of feeding until it is reduced to three times a day.

The technology for feeding newborn calves in the first week can be radically different. In order to place the liquid, choose a suitable container. It can be a bottle or other container with a nipple or a bucket. It is most convenient to use the first option, because, as written earlier, the calf needs partial feeding in small doses. If the animal is very weak, a probe is used. In addition to artificial methods, natural feeding of calves is used: sucking. Feeding the calf directly by the cow is practiced for 4-5 days. This method has both pros and cons, and therefore it is worth considering this when choosing a desoldering scheme.

Pros:

1. The naturalness of the process.
2. Providing frequent drinking (up to 9 times) during the first 5-7 days.
3. Ensuring the correct colostrum temperature.
4. Partial watering.
5. Increasing the immunity of the animal due to the transfer of antibodies directly from the cow's body to the calf.
6. Reducing the risk of disease by 50-70%.

However, nothing happens without minuses in our life:

1. Since colostrum flows from the cow directly to the calf, it is impossible to measure how much fluid the animal has received.
2. In the process of feeding, the cow can catch or harm the young.
3. You cannot use this method for chronic diseases or injuries of the mammary glands.
4. If a young individual usually sucks from one teat, this can lead to abnormal development of the cow's udder, affecting her productivity in the future.

The quality of colostrum plays a significant role. First of all, it depends on how much the combined diet of a lactating cow is, in what conditions she is kept, whether she receives proper care. The diet of cattle must include proteins, carotene and a complex of vitamins (A, B12, E) in the right proportions. The conditions must be appropriate: access to fresh grass, the possibility of walking, clear water, sunlight, sufficient free space.

Feeding the growing calves

When the feeding of the calves with colostrum (the first week) is over, the animal is gradually transferred to the drinking water. Initially, maternal feeding is used, feeding the animal from a bottle with a nipple or a natural method (suction). Then the whole milk is fed to the calves. Mother's milk is replaced with whole milk. This nutrition continues for about 2 weeks, then milk of various origins is gradually introduced into the diet.

This will make the body of a young individual more resistant to disease. At the age of several months, a fat-free product is introduced into the diet of young animals. Despite its low calorie content and a small amount of vitamins in the composition, skim milk is necessary for a growing body.

How to change the calf feeding system

The transition is best done gradually according to a certain scheme. To begin with, the norm is 1 liter per day. This amount is increased to 5-6 liters (depending on how much a particular species requires). At the age of 1.5 - 2 months, they begin to gradually reduce the dose of skim milk, at the same time introducing adult feed into the diet. Over time, around 2-2.5 weeks of age, you can replace the milk with whole milk again. However, from an economic point of view, this decision is unprofitable: it is better to use 1 month old whole milk.

Nutrition for the first few months in young animals is a very important moment in the life of animals. For this, certain rules must be observed: to improve digestion in a young body, small calves are fed with fermented milk.To obtain fermented milk, acetic acid or special bacterial starter cultures are added to the fresh product. To feed the calves, you can use the bucket itself or, in a more convenient way, use a bottle with a teat.

Calves are fed up to 1 month in small portions so that the dairy product does not linger in the gastrointestinal tract. There are cattle breeders who use a special bucket with nipples, which is fixed on the table. For mass breeding of cows, a pasteurizer with a cart is used.

Feeding calves with water: proper feeding

After colostrum and milk, water is fed to the calves. A young body needs a sufficient amount of fluid. Its deficiency affects the work of the digestive system: the acidity of the stomach increases, food is not absorbed and remains in the stomach, problems with the gastrointestinal tract begin. At the age of up to 2 weeks, water is boiled before use and cooled to a temperature of 20-25 ° C. At the age of 2 weeks, water is given without preliminary boiling.

There are different schemes for feeding calves with water, let's consider the most common one. As in previous cases, a bucket or bottle with a nipple is used for drinking. After feeding with milk or colostrum, take a break of 1.5-2 hours, and only then drink water. At the age of 15 days, the diet should include no more than 1 liter of water, later the rate rises to 2 liters after each drink of dairy products. Instead of water, you can use tinctures: they help improve metabolism, accelerate the development and appetite of the animal. For their manufacture, the components of the usual adult cattle feed are used.

Feeding calves with milk powder

At 10 days of age, whole milk replacer can be added to the diet of calves. Instead of 10 liters of ordinary milk, older calves can drink milk from 1 kg of dry milk. There is a certain scheme according to which milk is prepared from milk replacer. Usually 1 kg of powder is diluted in 8-9 liters of water. There is no need to worry about the nutritional value and health benefits of this product. For reference, the mix includes grains, whey, skim milk and buttermilk. In some milk replacers, manufacturers put antibiotics to normalize the intestines of the animal.

In the process of properly feeding calves with milk powder, there is no risk of infecting babies with diseases of a lactating cow. Another plus of milk replacer: they contain significantly more useful microelements than natural milk.

Powdered milk is a type of whole milk substitute. For its manufacture, special dryers are used, which turn ordinary whole or skim milk into dry milk. Their use is not much different, but the usefulness and energy value have significant differences: milk powder from whole milk contains much more vitamins and nutrients, it has a high calorie content. You can store such milk in a cool place for a rather long period, however, depending on the conditions in which it is stored, the shelf life can be sharply reduced. Before use, such milk must be diluted with water. The amount of water is determined as follows:

1. Weigh the calf.
2. Weigh the empty bucket.
3. Pour exactly 0.5% of the calf's weight into the bucket.
4. Filled with water weighing 4% by weight of the calf.

Another advantage of milk powder is its static nature in terms of its constituent components, which do not change depending on the living conditions of the cow. In addition, it serves as a wonderful immunostimulating agent. In terms of budget, it is cheaper than whole milk.

Conclusion

Feeding calves with milk powder is not an easy task, it requires certain knowledge and skills, the subsequent life of an individual depends on the correctness of this process.

In the first days of life, the animal should be drunk with colostrum, then you can replace it with whole milk, skim milk, water, whole milk substitutes, including milk powder. A generally accepted scheme has been developed for watering.At the age of 2 months, the animal can be transferred to adult feed, when the calves are already fed with fermented milk.

There are also many rules to consider when feeding calves. This is not as easy a process as it seems at first. Don't let these difficulties scare you. Good luck!