Calf Rearing

Colostrum: 2 L gold colostrum to every keeper within 6-12 hrs of birth, by drencher. Sterilise the drencher daily.

Milk: warm, 18-20C. Roughly one part hot water to three parts colostrum.

Feed in shed: Starter Mix + 20% pellets, always available, plus straw and clean water.

Rhythm: twice a day at the same times. 2 L per feed for the first few days, then 3 L.

Wean at 100 kg. Weigh when they look close.

Vanessa: 027 294 4648

Vet (Matt): ‭021 245 7577‬

Red velcro neckband = a calf to watch. Spray on the back = treated or sick.

Euthanasia: captive bolt and pithing rod only. Blunt force is never acceptable.

Identify keepers: heifers get neck tags, then check on the computer they are actually keepers. Mark bulls with a dot of spray on the back.

Milkers collect the first gold colostrum daily into buckets (valuable even if bloody or clotty).

2 L gold colostrum to every keeper within 6-12 hrs of birth, by drencher. No excuses. Sterilise the drencher daily.

Spray iodine over the whole navel before the calf goes on the trailer.

Handle gently. Never throw, hit or drag a calf.

Max 10 calves per trailer load. Hose the trailer out daily.

Very wet or cold: pick up twice a day to avoid sickness and death.

Anything that looks off, tell the calf rearer or manager ASAP.

Feed twice a day at the same times. Feed the bobbies first so they are penned ready for the truck.

Warm milk 18-20C (about one part hot water to three parts colostrum). Find a system and stay consistent.

2 L per feed for the first few days, then 3 L. Smaller calves may stay on 2 L or move down a pen.

All mobs stay on twice-a-day milk until weaning. The first mob can move to once a day when they go outside; younger mobs now stay twice a day right through to weaning to catch up to the older ones.

Once older on once-a-day: 4 L morning, 3 L afternoon. Shift onto once-a-day over 2-3 days (more morning, less afternoon).

Starter Mix + 20% pellets, straw and clean water always available. Ask the manager to re-order before it runs out.

Teach new calves on the bottle, then move them to the feeder. Keep putting them back on until they get it. First night a calf may not drink: offer a taste three times, then leave till morning. Note non-drinkers on the whiteboard.

Write the date each pen fills on the whiteboard. It tells you the age, so you know when to move to once-a-day and when to debud.

DO NOT OVERFEED. It causes scours. A balloon-tight left flank means overfed. Greedy fast drinkers may need taking off early; slow ones a top-up.

Feeding time is your health-check time. Check every calf, every feed.

Healthy calf: bright, not-sunken eyes; clear, moist, cool nose; alert (not droopy) ears.

Small dry navel, no swelling or pain, no heat in the navel or hocks.

Shiny supple coat; clean back end; stands on all four legs.

Good appetite; semi-solid milky (not stinky) faeces; temperature around 38C.

Watch for: sunken eyes, weight loss, skin slow to spring back when pinched (dehydration), scouring, no interest in drinking.

Put a red velcro neckband on any calf you are worried about. If in doubt, use electrolytes liberally: it is your secret weapon.

Group calves by similar age and drinking ability. Move slower drinkers down a pen.

Isolate the calf immediately in the sick pen with fresh water. Spray its pen with disinfectant. Record any treatment on the whiteboard and mark the calf with spray. Wash boots and clothing after handling.

Nutritional scours (overfeeding, stress, inconsistent feeds): 2 L warm electrolytes each feed. Off milk no more than 2 days, electrolytes only.

Infectious scours (several sick in one pen): keep on milk and add electrolytes. Contact Vanessa 027 294 4648 ASAP.

Pneumonia (droopy, fast puffing, mucus, fever): keep warm with electrolytes. Contact Vanessa immediately.

Navel infection (swollen, warm, sore): iodine over the whole navel including the very tip. Contact Vanessa or the manager, as antibiotics may be needed.

Ear infection (bleeding or crusty at the tag): purple antibiotic spray. If it gets worse, tell the manager.

Farm workers handle calves once they are outside.

Move out in mobs of about 40, similar age and ability, and only once they are: on once-a-day for 2-3 days, debudded, extra teats removed, healthy and strong.

Feed 6 L once a day plus pellets. Take the chill off the milk, especially for younger groups just out.

Count calves on the feeder every time. If one is missing, stop the milk and find it.

Check health while they drink: eyes, ears, navels, back end. Keep troughs full and accessible.

Pellets in the feeder, or about 8 small piles per 25 kg bag on the ground.

Wean at 100 kg. Weigh when they look close. Drop milk 6 L to 4 L to 2 L over a week and lift pellets up to a maximum of 1 kg per calf per day. Keep feeding 1 kg per calf per day for at least 3 weeks after milk stops.

We supply Silver Fern Farms. In June, reps drop off tags and pickup schedules. Phone in the first few pickups of the season or the truck will not come.

Calves 4 days and older go on the truck. Correct tags in ears, fed, and in the pickup pens before the truck arrives.

Spray on the head only, one dot per day, to show age.

Feed twice a day, 3 L each, until pickup. Never leave a calf hungry and bellowing.

NEVER send a calf that is sick, has a wet navel, or has had (or may have had) antibiotics or penicillin milk. Sick calves cannot handle the trip and the farm is fined.

No bobby truck drivers in our calf sheds. They carry disease between farms. Report any mistreatment to the farm owner.

Calf rearer is the only person in the keeper pens unless asked. Enter the pens as little as possible.

Disinfect boots in the foot bath and wash off any muck or saliva when moving between bobby and keeper pens, and after handling any sick calf. Scours spread on dirty boots and clothing.

Daily: flush the feed hose and nozzle; top up the boot-bath disinfectant; clean dirty water and pellet troughs; hose the feeders; disinfect anything fouled; disinfect bottles, teats and the drencher; replace leaky teats.

Milk delivery hoses: flush them through daily after feeding, and give the milk lines a full flush weekly (drain the milk, run high-pressure water through the lines, then drain again).

Weekly: disinfect the feeders and all teats; spray the pens and walls up to lick height.

Farm worker: disinfect the gold-colostrum drencher daily; hose the pickup trailer; hose mud off the outside feeders; disinfect the outside feeder and teats weekly.

Penicillin milk: stirred daily by farm staff, outside calves only. NEVER to shed calves or bobbies. A calf given it must be euthanased, not trucked.

Debudding: around 2-3 weeks old, a few days before calves go outside. Local anaesthetic always.

Extra teats: check during debudding and remove carefully with clean, sharp scissors.

Euthanasia: captive bolt and pithing rod only. Blunt force trauma is never acceptable.

2 flexi stomach tubes

2 bottle feeders

2 calf drenchers (one farm worker, one calf rearer)

Calf feeders for the gates (disinfected, teats checked)

2 iodine spray bottles (one trailer, one shed)

6 to 8 buckets with lids

Disinfectant, scrubbing brushes and a bottle brush

Foot baths

Soaking tub

Hot water cylinder ready

Hay and pellets for inside calves

Taggers and bobby tags

Tagging system for keepers

Thermometer

Electrolytes

Anti-viral disinfectant

Antibiotic treatment