Calf management down under

Despite predictions to the contrary the prices and weather have, in the main, played ball, Olin explains: “It started with some price turmoil and predictions of a dry summer. Instead, milk prices have stabilised and are improving while the weather has been reasonable,” he says. “We had good rain before Christmas and the farm is looking well, so it’s typical for this time of year. Milk yields are back a little on targets and that’s because of a wet start to the season. But I’ve been farming long enough to know it’s a game of averages, so we’ll hopefully get a win somewhere along the way to the end of the season.
“We’ve seen several lifts in the GDT. In addition, China and New Zealand signed a free-trade agreement in January removing tariffs. We can get product into China tariff-free where other countries are still paying tariffs. The exact impact on price is unclear, but there is increasing optimism. Global milk supply is contracting so hopefully we might be in the start of another upward cycle.”

New developments

Since our last New Zealand report, Olin and his family have moved to a new property in the Waikato region: “The previous property we were on was sold and we managed to secure a larger share-milking contract in the Waikato. We wintered 780 cows there and then took on a smaller unit milking 240 cows. So, there’s plenty going on but thankfully the farms are within a half an hour of each other. We have ample staff, mainly from Ireland.”
Olin plans ahead to accommodate extreme weather events: “The climate has changed somewhat, and I think the key thing is having a rolling buffer of feed. It doesn’t always go in where it might have in the past, but once you’ve got that reserve account of feed, you just manage whatever you meet.”
The environmental challenge for farmers in New Zealand has reduced somewhat, as Olin explains: “We had a change of Government in October, and we’re back to what one might call the farmer-friendly National Party Government. Already, there’s indications that they’re going to relax some of these compliance things that were imposed on us over the last six years by the previous Government. The signals are good. It’s a tricky one for a Government in terms of hitting that sweet spot to ensure economic prosperity and protect the environment. At least there’s no talk of culling cows.”

Calf care

“We’re livestock farmers and do everything we can to nurture that pregnant cow to have a live calf. First and foremost, our replacements are bred off our higher index cows. Our lower tiered animals, up to 25 per cent of the herd, are put to beef breeds. The issue then is what to do with the surplus dairy-bred bobby calves.
“We had a massive overhaul in how those calves are treated from when they leave the farm to being processed because of the spotlight on the issue some years ago. Protocols are very strict. There’s responsibility on all parties involved. Farmers must make sure that they’re well fit for transport and there are traceability forms to fill in. From the husbandry viewpoint, nothing has changed on our farm in terms of feeding colostrum whether it’s a bobby calf or a replacement. We give three litres of colostrum within six hours if that’s possible. Our replacement calves will continue getting two feeds per day for about 14 days. Then we transition those calves over to five litres once a day. Looking at a crossbred calf, we target weaning weights of 90-100kg, normally at around 10 weeks of age. It’s a tried-and-tested method with five litres of milk up to eight weeks, then tapering that back, with the aim of having them eating a kilogramme of ration before weaning. Then, the calves go to the grazing block at that stage at a minimum 100kg of weight. They are fully transitioned to grass at that stage with no ration.”

Whole milk feeding

Olin explains that they bulk store surplus colostrum using yogurt to stabilise it and a pump to prevent a skin forming. He continues: “We then feed it to older calves in a 50:50 ratio with fresh milk. Feeding whole milk is cost effective for me because the lease contract allows us to rear our calves out of the milk. If I was to buy powder, that cost would be all on us. It also keeps things simple. The whole milk, I think, is a little bit more forgiving. With the milk replacer, you’ve got to be very consistent with your mixings. On a larger farm, it’s a little bit harder to get that consistency across multiple people.
“One thing I should note, generally I’ll have one person assigned to the role of the calf rearing, so there’s responsibility on that person. If you have three or four different people and there’s a breakdown of communication, that’s when scour can sneak in. One guy here from Ireland has done a phenomenally good job on the calves and he’ll delegate out on his day off and whenever he needs an extra hand. That works quite well. We have a weight gain bonus, so there’s an added incentive to weigh the calves and get them weaned at target weights. We’ve got a bit of a competition between the two farms on who can rear the heaviest calves, but there’s a caveat around how much meal they’re allowed to use, so no stretching the truth.”

Cost control

ID calf tagging has not been widely adopted on New Zealand farms, but Olin has looked into it with a view to reducing labour requirements: “But the barrier is the capital involved and the fact that the farm lease contract is finite, while the investment is long-term. In addition, the surplus calves are the ones that take up a lot of time and it’s hard to justify an investment like that for calves that are leaving at four days old. ID tags and automation are nice-to-have additions. I look at the money involved and would put that into other areas to grow more wealth. Maybe later on when we’re fed-up feeding calves and a bit more comfortable, financially, it’s something we could look at."

Outdoor regime

The bulk of the Greenan replacements are reared outdoors.

There are limited sheds on a lot of farms and that means getting those calves out into the paddock as soon as possible: “On the positive side, you avoid overcrowding and the calves have access to outdoor shelters. We just feel the calf does a lot better outside. At peak calving there is a lot of pressure on calf pens, and generally things can start to go wrong towards the end of calving when the pens have had a lot of pressure with bacteria.
“We get them out to pasture and get them nibbling on that grass and it works well once they have access to shelter. They’re bred for outdoors. In terms of health protocols, we BVD-vaccinate the calves before they move to the grazing block. I’m not trying to say other vaccinations are not needed. It’s down to individual circumstances. It is another strain on the animal-health costs.”