Winter Calf Feeding Strategies and Concerns in Cold Weather.
There are many options when it comes to winter calf feeding strategies, but those options also come with pros and cons. Some have economical impacts, some present calf health risks. You might have followed us here from the last article with the same questions as before. Are all calories the same, no matter where they come from? Does feeding more fat provide additional benefits to the calf other than strictly calories? How can I feed more fat more economically? Is there any reason I should or shouldn’t feed more fat in the winter?
Q: Are there biological benefits to adding fat to the calf's diet? If mom makes 32% fat, doesn’t that mean that the calf needs 32% fat?”
A: Cow's milk is somewhere around 25/30 (protein/fat). That would lead you to assume you would want something similar in a calf milk replacer, right? Not necessarily. We have changed the composition of what that mother cow produces because it pays our bills. We get paid for components as dairy farms (especially fat!) and have changed both our herd diets and our herd genetics to make that milk high in fat. It is not what the calf needs. There are a lot of things that we can do better for the calf than giving her a bunch of fat. Energy, which is vital for maintenance, health, and growth, can be provided by fat, but it can also be provided from many other things, like protein. Protein is more than just energy, it provides the building blocks for tall, strong framed heifers. Protein builds up, fat builds out. We use a milk replacer that is specially formulated to meet a calf’s energy needs. In a typical milk replacer, you will find that about 92% of the fat is digestible and bioavailable to the calf. In the Denkavit milk replacer that we use, bioavailability and digestibility jumps to 96%. Why is that? The fat in their milk replacer is processed through methods never before used in North America. This unique process allows for increased digestibility by gently and effectively processing that powdered fat!
Q: Under normal conditions, your calves can get all the energy they need from a high quality, highly digestible milk replacer, but are there times that adding fat to milk could be helpful?
A: Possibly. If your calves are extremely stressed by environmental factors like severe cold, high disease pressure, or any other form of extremes, that calf could benefit from extra fat, but they could also benefit from added calories from increased volume or percent solids fed per day just the same.
Q: Are there any drawbacks to just adding fat?
A: Yes, there are! Fat is energy, but it also fills them up and keeps them full. Why would that be bad? Because, if they aren’t hungry, or if they feel satiated, they aren’t going to get up to look for starter. Well, who cares? You should! While you might not be trying to wean your calves at 7 weeks, you would probably like to get them weaned within 8-10 weeks. In order to do that, they have to get a little hungry, get up, look for feed, and eat it, to get their rumen developing. If you are feeding too much fat in your milk portion of your diet, and your calves aren’t forced to get a little hungry, they're going to have a really hard time getting their rumen geared up and going for weaning. Then what? You wean your calves like you always have at 8 weeks, and 3 days later they’re tanking on you. Why? Because they didn’t eat enough total starter to properly develop their rumen! Keep this in mind when you wean and are adding additional fat to your winter calf program! The other thing to highly consider to help in developing the rumen is to offer free choice water as often as possible. That’s a challenge in the winter, but it's essential to all living things, and it’s vital to rumen development.
Q: What about if you just wanted to add fat to the milk replacer on an as needed basis, as in when those extremes pop up on the occasions that they do?
A: You could do that, and it could save you a lot of money, but there are some risks associated with inconsistently adding fat to your calf’s diet. The first risk to consider in doing so are the variations that come with adding to a calf’s diet as needed. As needed implies it is changing, and change is hard for calves to deal with. If your calves are stressed because of other factors, stressing them further by changing their diet all winter long might not be in their best interest.
The last burning question you might have is, can I safely feed 15.5% solids. While this is an important question, it has a very long answer that deserves an article of its own, so make sure to sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss it!
These are just a few questions answered that you might have thought of, but if you have more, please don’t hesitate to reach out. AVA Group Inc. and the team at Denkavit would love to help you set up the perfect winter feeding calf program for your budget and your calves!