Early Life Management and Long-term productivity of Dairy Calves

摘要

The topic of calves and calf management traditionally involves discussions about dry cow management, colostrum, scours, rumen development and weaning. In more recent times the topic of "intensified feeding or accelerated growth" has become a focus of discussion and some debate and the concept has been applied in both research and on farm in various ways. Much of this discussion involves differences in perspectives about how to best manage the nutrition and nutrient intake and weaning of the calf. There are teleological arguments for providing a greater supply of nutrients from milk or milk replacer, e.g. what would the dam provide, and there are also arguments for improving welfare status by following the same concept (Jasper and Weary; 2002; de Paula Vieira et al. 2008). At the recently held 15th ADSA Discover Conference on Calves (Roanoke, VA) the overwhelming consensus of the participants was that we need to feed calves for a specific rate of daily gain, much higher than currently considered, and that is a significant change in industry and academic perspective. Data from studies that have directly and indirectly allowed us to evaluate milk yield from cattle that were allowed more nutrients up to eight weeks of age are now available. In each of these studies, increased nutrient intake prior to 56 days of life resulted in increased milk yield during the first lactation that ranged from 450 to 1,400 additional kilograms compared to more restricted fed calves during the same period. Early life events appear to have long-term effects on the performance of the calf. Our management approaches and systems need to recognize these effects and capitalize on them. It appears that there is some potential profit in spending more time and resources on the animal at this early stage of life in order to improve lifetime milk production.