Feeding dairy calves differently can impact future production

FORT ATKINSON, Wis. — New developments in calf nutrition may change the way dairymen feed their animals.

“There are many papers that show that increasing average daily gain during the preweaning period can impact lifetime production,” said Michael Steele, professor in the Department of Animal Biosciences at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

“There are also other papers that have shown no response to accelerating growth and health in early life and lifetime production,” Steele said during a webinar hosted by Hoard’s Dairyman. “But there’s yet to be one published paper showing any negative consequence of improving growth as well as health during preweaning with respect to lifetime production.”

There are many issues with gut health of calves during the preweaning period. “There is a lot of mortality and morbidity,” the university professor said. “Twenty-four percent of calves fail passive transfer immunity and I think antibiotic use is still overused, so we have a lot of work to do.”

For the neonatal period, Steele said, dairy calves should receive colostrum greater than 10% of their body weight in the first 12 hours of life. “I would consider even feeding more, maybe 12% of their body weight during the first two meals of their life,” he added.

“We want to boost passive transfer immunity by feeding really good quality meals of colostrum but traditionally we have an abrupt transition to whole milk or milk replacer at 12 to 24 hours of life so another area of research is transition milk feeding,” the speaker said.

Studies have shown that the calf’s gut is still open after 12 hours, Steele said. “Feeding 50% colostrum and 50% milk for the first two to three days will increase intestinal development and there is a reduced risk of mortality, as well,” he reported.

Another option is extended feeding of smaller amounts of colostrum replacer, “approximately 10% for the first seven to 14 days,” the university professor said. “Studies show an increase in body weight and average daily gain and a reduction in the risk of mortality, so there are lots of benefits.”

A lot of disease occurs in the preweaning period for dairy calves at seven to 21 days of life. “Calves treated with antimicrobials during preweaning have lower conception rates, increased time to first calving, increased risk of culling and reduced milk production on their first lactation,” Steele stated.

Steele has done research to look at alternatives to antibiotic use. As soon as the calves had a fecal score of two or three, calves were put into a study that had three groups — a control, a two-day supplementation, and a four-day supplementation. “The treatment was substituting 50% of the milk replacer with colostrum replacer and we followed the calves 56 days after enrollment,” he said.

“Feeding this treatment for four days actually resolved the diarrhea faster,” Steele reported. “The long-term group had greater average daily gain and also body weight.

“It is really amazing that a treatment for four days can actually result in a response at 42 and 56 days,” he said. “There’s something in the colostrum that’s resolving the diarrhea and improving the gut.”

If fed properly, Steele said, it is possible for dairy calves to consume high volumes of milk. “During the first three weeks of life, when they’re not consuming enough starter to contribute to growth you can push more milk,” he noted. “If you don’t feed the milk, you will never get this growth in the first three to four weeks of life again; it’s gone and there is no getting that back.”

Steele’s lab group has been studying the weaning stage of dairy calves for more than 10 years. “Age is probably the most critical, you should not be weaning calves less than eight weeks old and even longer going to 10 weeks,” he stressed. “In Europe, they’re at 12 weeks in most cases — weaning later is always better.”

A stepped-down protocol is important, as well, the speaker said. “It should be greater than two weeks with multiple steps,” he added.

“I think we overestimate how much forage a calf can consume at this age,” the university professor said. “I think we always have to be offering over 85% concentrate.”

Researchers evaluated the difference between a 12-day stepped down weaning versus an abrupt weaning of zero days. “The abrupt weaning really caused an elevation in fecal starch and we don’t like this because we’re wasting starch,” Steele said. “But it could also be causing hindgut acidosis and that’s why you see inconsistent manure during this time.”

Formulations for milk replacers and starters can be very different. “For starters, the starch can range from 10 to 51% and the same with sugars and NDF,” Steele reported. “Perhaps we should be looking at milk feeding schemes and matching them with the composition of the starter.”

In the future, Steele said, he expects dairymen will be feeding calves individually. “For example, a milk replacer feeding station that can feed four different lines of milk,” he explained. “Or multiple starters, different amounts of starters or different compositions of starters.”

Eventually, Steele said, dairymen will move to a system of individual calf feeding schemes. “We’re going to be sensing information from the calves and adjusting the feeding scheme based on this information,” he predicted.

“We don’t even feed as a percentage of body weight, so perhaps we should start there,” the speaker stated. “But then I think we’re going to be looking a different compositions and different feeding schemes.”