Calves should be fed milk at approximately 10% of their body weight. Milk can be mixed with other dairy products (whey or skim milk) at this stage and should be fed at body temperature. Commercial milk replacers can be fed at this stage if they are available and cheaper as they would result in increased profits to the farmer and increase milk for human consumption.
The milk replacer should contain 22% protein (if all protein is from milk sources) or 24% when some plant protein is included (on DM basis). Mastitic milk can be fed to calves only if it appears normal and has low levels of antibiotics. The calf should be introduced to high quality pre-starters at this time.
Calf feeds
Preserved colostrum: High yielding cows may produce more colostrum than the calf can consume which can be preserved and fed later. The colostrum can be preserved by several methods. The most ideal is freezing but this may not be possible in small-scale farms without electricity supply. In such cases, the colostrums may be preserved through natural fermentation (storing at room temperature). Before feeding the preserved colostrum, it should be mixed with warm water at the ratio of 2 parts colostrum to 1 part water.
Milk replacers: These are commercial products manufactured to resemble milk and are mostly used when there is no milk to feed the calf e.g where a cow is sick or died during calving. They are also used when demand and price of milk is high. Preserved colostrum should be used as much as possible before a farmer decides to use milk replacer. Milk replacers are always of lower quality than whole milk and should only be fed if they are cheaper.
Pre-starter: A pre-starter is a high quality calf feed, which should be low in fibre and is almost similar to milk replacer and is usually fed during the second and third week. It is fed in12 a dry pelleted form or as a meal. It should be used early to stimulate calves to eat dry feed to enhance rumen development. It is estimated that it takes rumen growth about three weeks after the calf starts eating a handful of dry feed, thus the earlier they start the better.
Calf starter: The starter contains slightly higher fibre content compared with the pre-starter. At this stage the calf is consuming little milk and is in transition to becoming a ruminant.
Roughage: Calves should be offered only high quality forages early in life and supplemented with concentrates (calf starter). If hay is used, it should be of high quality, fine texture, mixed with legumes and fed ad lib. If they are on pasture, it would be best to always graze calves ahead of adults to control parasites. Some of the common roughages offered to calves are sweet potato vines and freshly harvested and wilted Lucerne.
Water: Calves should be offered fresh water in addition to milk. Lack of drinking water slows down digestion and development of the rumen, and hence the longer it takes before calves can be safely weaned. Between three weeks and weaning, calves’ water consumption usually increases and should be available all the time.
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