NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State
University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
July 23, 1998
Recent hot weather is a harsh reminder that without a lot of clean, fresh water, dairy calves will not gain weight properly.
"Providing calves with as much water as they'll drink is a key to getting them weaned and keeping production costs down," says J.W. Schroeder, extension dairy specialist at North Dakota State University. He said that research in the early 1980s showed that calves given free-choice water in addition to their regular diet ate seven more pounds of calf startera driving force behind rumen developmentand gained eight pounds more than calves who were not given free-choice water.
"A calf which doesn't eat enough calf starter will remain longer in the pre-ruminant phase, a phase where the abomasum, or last of the calf's four-stomach compartments, makes up the majority of the digestive system," Schroeder says. Normally, this phase would last until the third week of age. By that time, the first stomach or rumen has typically developed. The rumen relies on bacteria to help digest forages and other feeds that make up the diet of older cattle.
"In the absence of calf starter, rumen development gets pushed back. That, in turn, can delay weaning beyond 6 to 10 weeks of age," he says.
Unfortunately, many producers complicate the problem by feeding hay to calves.
Recently, the National Dairy Heifer Evaluation Project analyzed calf and heifer practices on 1,811 dairies and found that more than half of producers feed hay to young calves. Instead of promoting rumen development, hay actually slowed it down.
"Replacement heifers are the future of the herd. It makes sense to implement nutrition practices like offering free-choice water and avoiding hay until after weaning, both of which promote rumen development," Schroeder says. "Earlier weaning means that milk can be directed to market and costs of calf production can be contained."
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Source: J.W. Schroeder (701) 231-7663
Editor: Tom Jirik (701) 231-9629