Once-a-day (OAD) feeding calves can be great timesaver at this time of the year and with many calves now over four weeks of age, farmers should try and pick out a batch to go on a OAD feeding regime.
For calves getting weaned, they must come off milk gradually. If they don’t wean them gradually, the calf’s digestive system can become stressed which can predispose them to illness, such as pneumonia and subsequent growth checks.
OAD feeding can significantly help this process of weaning and it can also help considerably with the workload at this time of the year.
Farmers are spending a lot of time during the spring milking cows, setting up wires for cows, herding springing cows, and feeding calves.
Many farms will have the majority of their calves on the ground, which means that feeding calves is taking up a good chunk of the day.
As the weeks go on, there will be more beef and surplus calves sold off farms and the number of calves on twice-a-day (TAD) milk will slowly begin to reduce.
Once-a-day feeding
OAD feeding should be done approximately one month prior to weaning and at least 28 days after birth, which will give the calves time to adjust to the new regime and further develop their rumen before the total liquid feed amount is reduced.
Calves are not under-fed when an OAD feeding protocol is correctly implemented, and they should receive their daily allocation of milk in one feed rather than two.
As they get used to one feed daily and are consuming a decent amount of concentrates, the farmer should begin reducing the amount of liquid feed being fed.
From 28 days of age, studies have shown that whole milk or milk replacer can be fed once-a-day with no difference in weight gain or scour incidence.
This does not mean that calves should be fed once and not looked at again, as they must be checked thoroughly twice daily and fed concentrate at an alternative time to milk feeding.
The reduction of the amount of milk fed should be gradual and most farmers will be feeding milk replacer to calves. It is important to reduce the solids content of the powder in conjunction with the water content of the milk.
The reduction of milk or milk replacer feeding should be carried out over a space of two weeks, reducing the amount of liquid feed every other day as calves need a consistent drop and no added stress.
Disbudding calves and transitioning calves to OAD should be done a couple of days apart as the calf does not need added stress.
The calf should be disbudded first and once the calf has fully recovered and is in good health, the transition to OAD feeding should begin.
Research has shown a 25-36% reduction in the labour input required for OAD (once-a-day) compared to TAD (twice-a-day) milk feeding systems.Â
Calves should be provided with ad-lib access to concentrates, straw and fresh clean water at all times and they should be fed in the morning as this will reduce the disturbance in the shed where they can then settle down and to concentrate feeding.
