Early alerts for calf husbandry
Recent findings by Sarah Legge and her Dairy UP colleagues provide the basis to develop early alert systems for calves being reared with automatic calf feeders.
Their findings have recently been published in the Journal of Dairy Science. The study identified potential intervention points for improved calf management on farm after 15 days old (5 days old if on an automatic calf feeder).
The study also demonstrated that variability in weaning weight was associated with both management factors and behaviour within the calf feeder, in particular the number of unrewarded visits between days 3 and 10.
They found that the cumulative consumption of milk at day 5 in the calf feeder could be used to estimate the weaning weight of calves when assessed with their birth weight. Sarah was recently awarded her PhD for her thesis on ‘The lasting impact of calf performance’, where she demonstrated and quantified strong and positive associations between performance of female dairy calves at weaning and their subsequent performance as lactating animals.
Her work is a great demonstration of how data from modern technologies like automated calf feeders can be used to improve farm management.
About Dairy UP
Dairy UP is a collaborative research, development and extension program for the NSW dairy industry. It aims to unlock the potential of pastures, cows, water and milk to increase productivity and profitability, and de-risk the industry and develop new markets.