New research shows dairy calves might be getting too much to eat in their first couple of feedings. Dairy farmers might need to make an adjustment. Luckily, there’s an app for that.
Dr. Don Sockett is a veterinarian with the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab. Dr. Tom Earleywine is the director of nutritional services with Land O’Lakes Animal Milk Solutions. Together they’ve found a way to empower dairy farmers to make better colostrum-feeding decisions for calves as the original recommendations are outdated.
“Really, it’s about too much volume in the first feeding is what we’re trying to get people to think about,” Earleywine explains. “We realized there is definitely ways we can do better.”
Sockett explains that the current recommendation is to feed up to 10 percent of their body weight with the first milking of colostrum with a Brix score of 22 percent or higher. But, he has sporadically seen complications with feeding these large volumes of colostrum.
“It can be life-threatening,” he says of the some of the cases.
Socket says it’s possible to feed a smaller volume of colostrum if you accurately estimate the quality of colostrum. With Earleywine’s help, the duo has developed a smartphone app to give dairy farmers some help in determining the right amount.
“It’s really simple — there’s three inputs that you need: Brix reading from the colostrom… weight of the calf… what is their preferred volume, and then the app will tell them if it’s able to fortify enough colostrum,” Earleywine explains. “Pretty simple. Add those three things, it gives them what they need.”
He says not only can it keep your calves healthy but it can prevent waste. The app is available through a Purina representative.