The optimal start for healthy calves

The optimal start for healthy calves

Gert-Jan Gerrits, Technical Sales and Commercial director, Nuscience Cehave Korm

Animal health is of vital importance when raising calves destined to become highly productive dairy cattle or beef cattle. Getting them off to a good start after birth is key to the rest of the raising period. During the first year the aim is achieve a maximum mortality rate of 10%.

Increasing dairy cows’ resistance to disease through their feed

Gert-Jan Gerrits, Technical Sales and Commercial director, CehaveKorm LTD

Strong, sustainable milk production starts with cows in optimum health. Providing a well-balanced diet based on the nutritional requirements for a high milk yield, in combination with good management, is an absolute must. This challenge is becoming harder and harder nowadays due to the growing pressure to reduce the use of antibiotics in farm animals. As a result, the potential effect of feed supplements on animals’ immunity is attracting greater interest.

The vitamins and minerals that play an important role in udder health include vitamin E, selenium and zinc, thus a sufficient dosage should be given to the animals (see tables 1-2-3).

Bedding renewal

Effective use of manure in Ukraine has been and remains important for many dairy farms because of environmental damage: air pollution with ammonia and bad influence on the soil. Very often manure is accumulated in a pile or pit on the farms, and later it is transported to the field. It is known that to get qualitative and useful humus, it should be kept at least a year. However, manure accumulates daily. For example, 1,000 head of cattle per day produces an average 35 tons of manure. Of course, it is easier to get rid of it by transporting on the field. Farmers will rather build new barn for livestock to increase the herd than take up place with lagoons.

Mastitis

Stepan Lyhosherst, Ukrainian Dairy Association consultant on veterinary

Mastitis is an inflammation of the udder, which is almost always caused by bacterial infection. The disease is called «clinical mastitis» if you see signs of the disease: for example, swelling or redness of the udder quarters or visible changes of milk (clots, flakes, color change).

Water is a key component of feeding

Drinking water must be tasty, clear, odourless and colourless. In fact, as a stockbreeder, you must be willing to drink the water yourself, in that way it can be seen that the drinking water is truly of optimal quality.

Properly grown youngsters — it is minimum ten thousandth milk yield per cow

Serhii Phil, AVM consultant

In recent years, Ukrainian milk producres received considerable portion of information on modern technologies of milk production. In various regions of Ukraine there were conferences and seminars held. training and educational tours to the leaders in milk production in Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Middle East were organized. However, surprisingly, still most of the farms have not adopted modern world elaborated technology of milk production. Why? Probably there are many reasons, objective and subjective. We do not aim to analyze them, and want the readers just to pay attention to one of the most critical moments - replacement calves growing. It is here where some make mistakes, others try to save money not realizing that the end result justifies the costs. Still, we all understand that properly grown calves give at least 10,000 milk yield per cow.

Ukrainian dairy company: how to get 9000 kilos of milk from a cow? Feeding Secrets

Lilia Annatloiivna Ivanohlu, Director of cattle husbandry LLC Ukrainian Dairy Company.

In 1984 graduated from Kharkiv Veterinary Institute with a degree in zootechnics. She worked on farms in Donetsk region. Since January, 6, 2007 she works at LLC Ukrainian Dairy Company. In February–March of that year she had training courses on dairy farms in the U.S. for a month, where she worked with milking machine operators, managers and veterinarians. “Thus I gained my experience and understanding what the modern industrial production should be”, Lilia Anatloiivna says.

Lilia Anatoliivna, which main rules are to be followed to get 9,000 liters of milk from a cow?

The main rule is do not harm the cattle. A cow is a factory for the production of milk, and it is quite a big burden for her: eat so much food and convert it to 9,000 liters of milk. Currently, 60% is a concentrated ration and 40% is roughage. The risk is great, but to get such a performance with other ratio structure is impossible. And the crucial point is to balance the diet and exercise strict control. We constantly evaluate the cattle fatness to compare its performance and fatness. It may be that the cattle converts feed not to milk, but to subcutaneous fat, leading to metabolic disorders. So we regularly do biochemical blood tests. When opening a new silo or haylage pit, or starting to give new bought forage — pellet or cake meal — we must do the analysis. Anyway, strict control of diet, quality of forage, and fatness… There is no room imagining. Everything is interconnected, and single out one thing — for example, the quality of food only, or a balanced diet it is impossible. Everything works just as complex. And only everything together, it will give the desired result.

Calf youth: how to take care, so have the end.The growing of productive cows in Rodina. Technology features

Oleg Shyshkunov: “When I am asked how come that in comparison with the year 2008 our cows increased milk yields in 2,400 liters, I reply — one of the components of success is the acquisition of high-quality sperm. However, sperm production is not all. Having improved heifers, we clearly apply the Agrosoiuz growth technology, when since birth till copulation age animals are to have steady growth in 750 grams daily. If an animal is of quality breeding, if a cow calves normally, and calves have acceptable conditions for cultivation and fertilization, the yield will not disappear”.