Calf health makes Shine a permanent feature at Vortex Holsteins

Tom King rears all dairy heifers as replacements for this high performing Vortex Holsteins herd at Dorchester.

The 660-cow all-year-round calving herd, which is milked three times a day, produces an annual milk yield average of 12,000 litres a cow at 4.3% fat and 3.4% protein, with milk sold to Freshways on a liquid milk contract.

As well are rearing heifers as replacements, Tom finishes all his dairy cross Angus beef calves.

All calves are reared in paired hutches and the feed plan for replacement heifers and beef calves is identical.

They start life with a four litre feed of colostrum within an hour of birth. Only colostrum which has a Brix reading of over 22% is used for that first feed.

Calves then receive two litres of cow transition milk twice a day for two to three days, before transitioning to Shine Heifer Start (sold as SHINE ADVANCE in NI).

This is followed by four litres a day of Shine Heifer Start at a concentration of 17% until calves are seven days old.

By day 14, milk intake is at six litres a day.

From birth, calves receive fresh water and an 18% crude protein dairy cake fed ad lib.

Kay Cox, who is in charge of calf rearing at the farm, is very impressed with Shine Heifer Start – for many reasons.

“It mixes instantly and the calves take to it immediately,’’ she says.

And calf health has never been better, she adds. “I can’t remember the last time we had to jab a calf for pneumonia, the calves really are shining.’’

This has resulted in a mortality rate of just 1.5% in the 900 heifer and beef calves she has reared since Shine Heifer Start was first used on the farm in April 2023.

Amber Broadway, Bonanza’s Sales Manager for the South West, who has a BSc in Bio veterinary Science, says there is good reason for this.

“As calves are continuously exposed to pathogens, viruses, and bacteria in their rearing environment, their underdeveloped gut and naïve immune system are constantly under disease pressure which often results in clinical scouring and/or respiratory episodes.

“Heifer Start targets specific pathogens such as cryptosporidium, coccidiosis, and pasteurella by using low heat skim milk and buttermilk in the formulation.’’

Amber explains that the low heat skim and buttermilk formulation coagulates for slow release, ensuring minimum digestive upset and maximum digestibility of milk proteins.

Heat treatment is more important than percentages of crude protein or skim as it ensures than the calf can utilise the skim milk effectively, slowly digesting it throughout the day.

Low heat buttermilk is also a key ingredient as it helps skim coagulate in the stomach and, as importantly, it contains nutrients found in transition milk and colostrum which aids the development of the gut as a first line of defence and digestion in the calf.

“As we learn more about nutrition and health, the development of the calf’s gut is seen now as key to productivity and longevity in the young ruminant,” says Amber.

At Vortex Holsteins, once calves are consuming approximately 1.5kg of concentrate a day, at around day 42, the weaning process is started.

Calves are weaned slowly over two weeks, with the volume of milk gradually reduced daily.

A colour coding system, developed by Kay and using tail tape on hutches, ensures that each calf gets its correct allocation of feed.

The system, which is illustrated in the image below, uses two blue tapes to indicate that calves are less than a week old and therefore must be given two litres of milk twice a day.

This regime means feeding is consistent no matter which member of farm staff is on duty in the rearing shed.

A reason why the Kings initially moved to Shine Heifer Start was because it looked very similar on paper to the calf milk replacer they previously fed.

But the consistent calf performance and minimal morbidity now being experienced confirms that labels only provide data on how a milk replacer is declared, not necessarily its manufacturing process or the quality of ingredients used.

Shine Heifer Start is now an important part of the calf rearing system at Vortex Holsteins.

“We would now find it hard to feed anything else to our calves,” says Tom.