Nestled in the Central Waikato hills, you’ll find Ben Watson’s Richmond Downs farm, where he milks 900 cows and runs beef genetics company Genez. He’s part of an Ancalf™ Calf Milk Replacer (CMR) trial with NZAgbiz.
“We’ve been using Ancalf™ on and off for about 30 years. We have tried other CMR powders during that time, but we always come back to Ancalf’s™ superior consistency and results. I find feeding CMR allows me to get better financial results by taking less good milk from the vat,” Ben says.
Best practice suggests a higher volume of milk earlier on in the calf’s life to support better long-term performance for the calf. Ben usually rears about 350 spring calves on a mixture of Ancalf™ and transition milk and has found that 200 grams per litre is optimal, for once daily feeding. He was keen to do a Charolais calf rearing trial testing a non-coccidiostat diet for dairy beef calves, making them antibiotic-free for the US and EU markets.
For the NZAgbiz trial, Ben is solely feeding Ancalf™ Calf Milk Replacer (CMR) to 72 autumn Charolais calves. These calves are divided into three groups: the first group receiving standard Ancalf™, the second, a special batch of Ancalf™ without a coccidiostat, and the third, the same non-coccidiostat Ancalf™ with added Biosupport™ probiotic treatment. Fresh meal, hay and water are always available also.
“This is the first time I’ve used Biosupport™. Julie and Carla from the NZAgbiz team have a wealth of knowledge. I’ve been rearing calves for around 30 years, and I learnt a couple of key things from them over the first few days of the trial, when introducing new calves here from the local dairy farmers. They have given us a lot of support – it’s great dealing with them,” says Ben.
The trial is ongoing but despite the final numbers yet to be crunched by the team, Ben is confident that it is a success.
“The calves look to be growing really well with the higher volume of milk. The group on Biosupport™ especially, seem to be performing really well. They look to be slightly healthier and have been easier to rear. I am looking forward to having the data collated so we can corroborate that,” he says.
“Even with the higher volume of Ancalf™, they’re still eating a lot of meal. They started on 200g to 300g of meal a day early on. Now, the older lot is eating more than 600g per day in addition to the 900g of powder. No wonder they’re growing like crazy.”
The calves were given Novolyte™ oral hydration therapy before they were transitioned to powder, and thereafter every afternoon for the first couple of days. Ben says this helped the calves keep hydrated and defecate less.
“Mixing the feed is easy and 200g per litre in a 200L drum makes for easy maths. Another trick is to add a couple of buckets of hot water to the mix. The more stable, warmer milk temperature makes a big difference to the younger calves transitioning. The NZAgbiz team have heaps of knowledge, they are a resource that many farmers don’t use enough. I won’t hesitate to involve them in the future.”