“No matter what kind of calf you have, you will never reach the concentration of milk powder,” Johan immediately throws a spanner in the works. “Always continue to feed 150 grams of milk powder in 1 liter of water.” Traditionally, there are farmers who feed ‘nice and thick’ in the winter, as Johan calls it. The disadvantage of milk with a higher concentration is that the milk contains many more nutrients per liter. “There is a chance that the calf cannot absorb all of this milk in the small intestine. As a result, these nutrients end up in the large intestine. These poison the calf, which can even lead to acute death due to this clostridium,” Johan sees once a year. That is why supplementing water is very important anyway.
This is how you can feed a calf harder
Do you have a heavy calf, for example a crossbreed, that you want to feed harder? Then really look for it in the liters of milk, Johan advises. “Never give more than four liters of milk per milking. Do you want to give the animal more liters of milk? Then switch to feeding three times a day or unlimited feeding of acidified cold milk.
Extra support for a light calf
A very light calf, such as a twin or a premature calf, can be supported by feeding milk powder for a little longer, so for example not nine weeks but eleven weeks. In this trial we saw the effect of this. For premature calves, you can use the following guideline: the number of weeks born prematurely is the number of weeks longer they get milk. So three weeks born prematurely means a three-week longer milk period.”
Do not dilute milk
Johan also strongly advises against diluting milk, for example towards weaning. “With diluted milk, there is a greater chance that the milk will end up in the rumen. The milk can rot there and then you see the typical clay-like manure.” That is why his advice is to also look for litres here and slowly reduce the litres without adjusting the concentration. View more tips here to wean your calf without problems.
Tip: check your concentration with the refractometer
Handy tip to check yourself: measure your prepared milk with a refractometer. If the refractometer indicates 15, you know that the concentration is exactly 150 grams of powder.