Sponsor Day: Seminar on Animal Feeding 15th-16th May 2014 IRTA Mas Bover

1. Paving the Road for the
Future:
Nutrition and
Management of Dairy
Calves
Ruminant Production Program
marta.terre@irta.cat

2. IMPORTANCE OF DAIRY CALVES

3. IMPORTANCE OF DAIRY CALVES
The most common objective is to have a first-
calf heifer at about 22-23 months weighing
about 650 kg before calving and be 137-147 cm
tall at the withers.
However, the mean AFC in the US is about 27
months (Hare et al., 2006), and in Europe
ranges between 25 and 29 months depending
on the country (Berry and Cromie, 2009).

4. IMPORTANCE OF DAIRY CALVES
Reducing AFC (w/o compromising BW at calving) implies:
1) the number of animals needed
2) the number of days on feed
Number of cows x replacement rate / ((1-mortality)
x (1-heifer culling rate)) x 2x(Age first calving/24)
100 x .30 / ((1-.03)x(1-.01)) x 2x(24/24) = 63 -> 27,000 €/y
100 x .30 / ((1-.03)x(1-.01)) x 2x(28/24) = 73 -> 37,000 €/y
100 x .30 / ((1-.03)x(1-.01)) x 2x(22/24) = 57 -> 23,000 €/y

5. IMPORTANCE OF DAIRY CALVES
226 kg milk/100 g ADG
Bach and Ahedo., 2008

6. IMPORTANCE OF DAIRY CALVES

7. WHAT CAN WE DO?

8. RESEARCH IN MILK FEEDING
PROGRAMS
80 Holstein female calves raised at Rancho
Las Nieves (contract heifer operation)
Milk feeding program: 6 l/d vs 8 l/d
JDS, Bach et al., 2013

9. RESEARCH IN MILK FEEDING
PROGRAMS
JDS, Bach et al., 2013

10. RESEARCH IN MILK FEEDING
PROGRAMS
JDS, Bach et al., 2013

11. RESEARCH IN MILK FEEDING
PROGRAMS
120 Holstein female calves raised at Granja
San José (2,000 milking cows farm)
• Milk feeding program: 4 l/d vs 6 l/d vs 8 l/d
• Weighing animals at 35, 63 and 400 d of
age
• Glucose Tolerance Test

12. RESEARCH IN MILK FEEDING
PROGRAMS
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
0 7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70
TotalDMI,g/d
day of life
4L
6L
8L

13. RESEARCH IN MILK FEEDING
PROGRAMS

14. IMPORTANCE OF SOLID FEED
R2 =0.32, P < 0.001

15. RESEARCH ON FOSTERING
SOLID FEED INTAKE
Castells et al. (2013)
15 Holstein male calves (8 days old)
 Same MR feeding program (4 L/d at
12,5%)
 Pelleted concentrate (20.4%CP; 21%
NDF)
 Forage in a separate bucket:
 No forage
 Chopped oats hay (72% NDF; 46%
ADF)
 Chopped alfalfa hay (48% NDF; 42%
ADF)
Weaning at 57 d of age
 Slaughtered 3 weeks after weaning

16. RESEARCH ON FOSTERING
SOLID FEED INTAKE
Some of the measurements...
Daily intake
 Weekly BW
 Weekly rumen sample: pH, VFA, qPCR of Ruminococcus
albus and Streptococcus bovis
 Total gastrointestinal tract passage rate 2 wks after
weaning
 At slaughter:
 Morphological rumen papillae measurements
 Cecum VFA
 Gastrointestinal tract weights and pH
 Rumen mRNA expression: MCT-1, MCT-4, SPC25,
NHE1, NHE3, DRA
 Parotid gland mRNA expression: AQ5 and TMEM16

17. RESEARCH ON FOSTERING
SOLID FEED INTAKE
JDS, Castells et al., 2013

18. RESEARCH ON FOSTERING
SOLID FEED INTAKE
JDS, Castells et al., 2013

19. RESEARCH ON FOSTERING
SOLID FEED INTAKE
JDS, Castells et al., 2013

20. RESEARCH ON FOSTERING
SOLID FEED INTAKE
A study under commercial conditions:
120 Holstein male calves (9 days old)
 Same MR feeding program (6 L/d at
12,5%)
 Meal concentrate (20%CP; 20% NDF):
 No life yeast
 Life Yeast
 Weaning by concentrate intake
 Following the calves until 63 d of study
 Measurements:
 Daily intake
 Weekly BW
 Rumen samples at weaning: pH,
microbial determination

21. RESEARCH ON FOSTERING
SOLID FEED INTAKE

22. TAKE HOME MESSAGES
• Research on calves and heifers is
important because they are the future of
the farm, and investing in their
performance and health will be recovered
later in life
• Calving at 650 kg BW with 23 months at
first calving needs an excellent calves and
heifers feeding program (milk and
concentrate)