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Precision Calf Rearing Drives Productivity on Manawatu Dairy Farm

A structured, meticulous approach to calf rearing is driving productivity on Sarah and Rodger Jamieson’s Manawatu dairy farm where every calf born is adding value to their business.

The Jamieson’s farm 280 hectares and lease a 300-hectare runoff in the Manawatu. They milk 650 Friesian cows producing an average of 450kgMS per cow and supply Open Country. The success of their calf-rearing operation is driving productivity both in their herd and for the farm’s bottom line as they aim to grow every calf born to its full potential.

 They rear about 600 calves every season. Twenty percent of them are replacement heifers, with the remainder Friesian bull calves and Hereford cross bull calves grown through to between 112kgs and 120kgs for selling to bull beef farmers.

They calve 500 cows in the spring and the balance of the herd in autumn. They have a six-week artificial insemination period at mating and use Friesian semen. Any cows not in calf then go out with Riverton Ezicalve Hereford bulls for four weeks.

“We’re not inventing anything new and we’re certainly not saying everyone has to do it our way but the structured system we’ve adopted is working really well for us,” says Rodger. The couple say rearing their bull calves is also helping to pay for their system, delivering about $1.43kg/MS in meat while the national average sits at around 50c.

Sarah and son Ruie 6

 “I talk to a lot of farmers, and I say, you’ve got to rear your bull calves. Our average price last year was $543. It can be a serious earner if you can get your systems right,” says Rodger.

They now have repeat bull beef farmers who seek out their calves every season. Sarah is the chief calf rearer, and says their programme is rooted in established, effective practices rather than experimental techniques. However, it is meticulous and it is seeing them raise calves that gain between 750 grams and 2kgs every day.

Starting off the right way

Sarah says they aim to feed four litres of colostrum within the first 24 hours of the calf’s life and test their colostrum quality continuously, freezing excess quality colostrum to use at a later date. “We aim for a 23-Brix rate with our colostrum. If there’s anything left over, we will freeze it, so we don’t waste it,” says Sarah.

They also tube feed colostrum to ensure every calf is getting four litres of colostrum in the first 24 hours. They give them a five-in-one vaccination and Multimin supplement to support the effectiveness of the vaccine, all within the first five days. Sarah says they have also split their calf sheds to keep newborns separate from the main mob for the first five days when they are fed colostrum.

 When the calves graduate to the second shed, they move to a mix of MaxCare calf powder and milk from the shed. The calf power is weighed to ensure meticulous mixing and they use the MaxCare Animal App to manage their mixing ratios based on how many calves they have in the shed.

“Depending on how much milk we have from the shed we top it up with the calf milk powder and by being careful with the mixing ratios the consistency between the two stays the same,” says Sarah.

taking the time to introduce changes

“We have found the key is if you change something, make sure you take your time to change it. It might not seem like much but for the calf it’s huge and can have a massive impact on growth rates and health,” says Rodger.

The couple feeds three litres of warm milk in the morning and three litres at night until the calves are 10 days old. They then move to four litres morning and night for four weeks, slowly reducing the supply over the following five weeks until they are weaned.

“Warm milk makes all the difference, especially at night and all we do is mix the calf powder with hot water,” says Sarah.

They introduce calf meal and hay from week 1, targeting 1.5kg by week 7 which ensures the calves are eating 1.5kgs of meal per day at weaning. Once the calves are weaned they continue to feed Gusto pellets for up to two months.

Rodger and Ruie6 feeding calves

The couple says the MaxCare Animal App has been key in managing their ratios and ensuring the calves never get milk that’s too concentrated to upset their delicate stomachs. Anything that looks like it might be heading for trouble is tube-fed MaxCare electrolytes or MaxCare Probiotic Paste.

The benefit of MaxCare electrolytes is that it doesn’t contain sodium bicarbonate and can be fed directly before or after milk.

 “We check the calves thoroughly twice a day and the high-quality tested colostrum we’re feeding at the start makes all the difference. They’re thriving and we just don’t have to worry about any of those diseases or bugs,” says Sarah.

measuring success

The couple have set up a weighing system in the sheds where Sarah can run the calves through a race and weigh them weekly. They have found doing the basics meticulously has seen them raise calves that are putting on up to 2kgs per day.

 “At our last weighing session, we had 77 calves, and they were adding 1.36kgs per day, which is huge,” says Rodger.

“We know those first four weeks and those weeks of feeding eight litres a day are setting our heifers up to milk better when they enter the herd because that’s when all the key development is happening,” says Rodger.

 He also continues to advocate for rearing all calves born given the returns they have enjoyed from the sales of their bull calves.

“We’ve been perfecting the system up until this point so I’m looking forward to seeing heifers from the last calving enter the herd next season and see the real results of our labour,” says Rodger.

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