Feeding dairy calves from three months to maturity

FEEDING DAIRY CALVES FROM THREE MONTHS TO MATURITY

  • From third month onwards cultivated green forages like Bajra-Napier grasses, sorghum fodder, guinea grasses etc can be given at the rate of 2 kg per day, and gradually increasing it to 5 to 10 kg at 6 months of age. Green leguminous forages like lucerne or berseem should be wilted in sun for 2 -3 hours before feeding it, to minimize bloat. Similarly concentrate mixture is increased from 0.75kg at 4th month to 1 kg at 5th month and 1.5 kg at 6 months of age.
  • After 6th month male and female calves are kept in separate paddocks and maintained on high quality roughage rations plus minimum concentrate so as to economize the maintenance cost.
  • Assuming a daily weight gain of 500 g from the 6th to 24th month of age, two kg concentrate mixture with 16% Digestible Crude Protein and 70% Total Digestible Nutrients and 15 t0 20 kg of green fodder should be provided to each calf.

Grazing calves

The following feeding schedule should be followed for raising calves from 3 months to maturity.

    Category
    Concentrate(kg)
    Roughage (kg)
    Indigenous cattle/buffaloes
    1 - 2
    Green grass/maize fodder-10 kg or
    Legumes 1-2.5 kg + Dry fodder -2 kg or
    Green fodder – 3 kg + Straw – 2 kg
    Crossbred 
    1.6 – 2.0
    Green grass/maize fodder or alike fodders 5 -10 kg upto 4 months and 10- 15 kg from 4-6 months.

    Hedge_Lucerne - Leguminous fodder for calves contain - 20 to 24% CP on DMB

From 6 - 12 months of age
Category
Concentrate (kg)
Roughage (kg)
Indigenous cattle/buffaloes
1-2
Green grass/maize fodder-15 to 20 Kg or 15 to 20 Kg of Legumes+ 5 Kg dry fodder or
Green fodder 5 kg + Straw 2 to 3 kg
Crossbred 
2.0 – 2.5
Green grass/maize fodder or alike fodders -15 to20 kg

    From 1 year to age at conception
    Category
    Concentrate (kg)
    Roughage (kg)
    Indigenous cattle/buffaloes
    1 to 2
    25 to 30 kg of green maize fodder / or other grasses
    Crossbred 
    1.5 to 2
    30 to 35 kg of green maize fodder / or other grasses

Importance of proper feeding of calves from weaning to breeding

  • The level of nutrition influences onset of puberty in cattle and buffaloes. At this age, the individual feeding is discontinued.
  • The male and female calves are separated. The animals of same sex are reared in small groups.
  • Proper feeding is necessary if heifers are to be prepared for breeding at the right age.
  • Inadequate diet during this period of growth may reduce the milk production potential when they start producing milk.
  • Care must also be taken not to allow heifers to become too fat. Heifers that become fatty at this stage will not produce well during lactation, besides fatness may lead to reproductive problems.
  • The animals should be supplied the required quantity of mineral mixture and common salt. Under the situation when green fodder is not available, the animals should receive ‘vitamin A­’ supplemented concentrate mixture.
  • A diet deficient in energy, phosphorus or vitamin A may delay the onset of oestrus.
  • The way a heifer is fed is very important as it can greatly affect:
    • Age at first service
    • Ability to conceive (to become pregnant)
    • Age at first calving
    • Lifetime milk production
    • Length of productive life
  • In general terms, if an animal grows at a faster rate, it will reach sexual maturity earlier. Puberty occurs at a particular live weight rather than at a fixed age.
  • Puberty occurs when heifers weigh between 45 - 50% of mature body weight and under good feeding and management they usually attain 45 - 50% of mature body weight at 13-15 months of age. Breeding should occur when heifers reach 50-60% of mature body weight.
  • Growth rate should be sustained during pregnancy such that heifers weigh 80-85% of mature body weight at first calving and are large enough to calve without difficulty at about 20-24 months of age

Growth of lactating cow

Feeding from weaning to 6 months (50-100 kg body weight)
  • During this period the calves will weigh 50-100 kg and the average gain in body weight at this age may be about 300-800 g per day depending the nutrition of calves. The rumen of the dairy calf will be fully developed.
  • Up to 4 months of age, calves depend on calf starters as their main source of nutrients. By four months of age rumen of the calf is sufficiently developed to convert the feeding program from a concentrate to a forage based one.
  • Good quality forage (e.g. legume and / or grass hay) should be offered free-choice to dairy calves up to 6 months of age along with 1-2 kg concentrate mixture with 14-16 % CP depending on the quality of the forage.
  • The average nutrient requirements of calves (50-100kg) as per NRC, 2001 recommendations:

Dry matter
2.5 % of live weight
Crude protein
17 %
TDN
75 %

Feeding schedule for calves between 50-100 kg live weights
Live weight (kg) Green grass / lugume grass(kg/day) Concentrate mixture (g/day)
50
3.0
400
60
4.0
500
70
5.0
550
80
6.0
600
90
7.0
700
100
8.0
800

Assumptions: Dry matter in green fodder = 25 %

  • Concentrate mixture contains 16-18 % CP and 70-75 % TDN if non legume green grass is fed and 14-16 %CP and 70-75 % TDN if legumes are fed

Feeding the pregnant heifer

How heifers are fed during this period can affect milk production during first lactation. Rapid growth of foetus occurs during the last trimester of pregnancy. Hence, the heifers should move from a steady growth rate after breeding to a rapidly growing phase (1.7 to 2.0 lb/day gain) during the last two to three months of pregnancy. The exact amount of grain to feed before calving will depend on forage quality, size, and condition of the heifer. During the last trimester of pregnancy heifers are fed 1.5 kg of a concentrate mixture (14 %CP and 70% TDN) to supply about 200 g of CP and 1.0 kg TDN to meet the requirements of rapidly growing fetus. The mature body weight of elite buffaloes ranges from 450 to 650 kg. Similarly the adult body weight of cows ranges from 300-600 kg or even higher in some breeds. Even after conception, therefore, they continue to grow at the rate of 300-500% depending upon the plane of nutrition to achieve mature body weight at about second lactation. Therefore, they should be fed additionally for months to achieve mature body weight for successive normal reproduction cycle. Delayed growth in first and/or second lactation due to short supply of dietary energy is often attributed to repeat breeding and other reproductive disorders. Therefore, the pregnant heifers are also fed 20 % of maintenance CP and TDN as extra allowance for their body growth.

The pregnant heifers should be provided more amount of good-quality forage and less concentrates to prevent fat deposition. They should receive adequate amount of carotene or vitamin A, as it is essential for maintenance of placental epithelium and foetal growth (deficiency leads to still-birth with hydrophalus). The vitamin A (alone in buffaloes) or vitamin A and carotene (in cows), stored in the body of cow, are secreted through colostrum in larger quantity. A reserve of this vitamin is thus essential. Since green fodders are very good source of carotenes (precursor of vitamin A), they should be fed in plenty. If green fodder /hay or silage is not available, synthetic vitamin A must be supplied through concentrate mixture. The green fodder has also laxative effect, which is helpful for pregnant animals.

Feeding of concentrate to heifers 2-3 weeks before calving to adapt rumen microbes to the concentrates is the sound nutritional practice in certain countries. The mineral mixture and common salt should also be supplied adequately. They should get free access to drinking water.

Last modified: Saturday, 31 March 2012, 5:35 AM