Care & Management
of Dairy Calves
Purposes of calf-rearing:
• Replacement heifers - for replacement of
culled milking cows
• Herd bulls
➢ Uncommon due to widespread use of
artificial breeding on dairy herds
• Bulls for beef production
➢ Not commonly practiced
• Bull calves mostly disposed of
immediately after birth
Calf rearing
• Relatively labour intensive procedure
• Expensive component of the dairy system
• Farmer may buy in replacement heifers
but:
➢ Genetic merit usually not known
➢ Health of purchased heifers not known
▪ Unless there are reliable records!
➢ May be more costly than rearing own
heifers
Dairy calves represent the future
productivity of any milking herd
General objectives
• Achieve high rate of survival (<5)
➢ Strong & healthy heifers
• Early puberty (by 12 months of age)
• Early pregnancy (14 – 15 months of
age)
• Calve by 24 months of age & produce
milk satisfactorily
• Become pregnant again within 70-80
days of calving
Minimum target weights for heifers at
various ages
Age Jersey (kg) Holstein-Friesian
Birth 25 35
Weaning (8-10 weeks) 65-70 80-90
6 months 110 135
12 months 190 235
15 months 230 285
18 months 270 335
24 months (before calving) 400 490
24 months (after calving) 355 435
Av. Growth rate 0.46 kg/day 0.56 kg/day
Source: Holmes et al., 2000
Failure to meet minimum
weights results in:
• Increased risk of reduced fertility
• Reduced milk production
• Reduced profitability of cow
Weight can be estimated
from measurements of
chest girth or height at
withers, if weighing
scales are not available
Measurement of calf chest girth & height at
withers
Estimation of calf weight from chest girth
& wither height
Weight (kg) Chest girth Wither height
(cm) (cm)
50 85-87 75-76
100 100-105 90-92
150 115-120 100-102
200 135 105
250 145 111
Heifer Growth Chart
Used to monitor heifer growth in
order to achieve optimal growth
Feeding: Colostrum
Calf’s first meal:
• Most important meal of its life
• Maternal antibodies not transferred across
the placenta during pregnancy; hence calves
are born with weak immune systems
• Intestinal absorption of antibodies declines
rapidly after birth & effectively ceases within
24 hours - timely consumption of adequate
amounts of good quality colostrum essential
to provide antibodies for disease resistance
• Essence: Quality, Quantity, Quickly
Feeding: Colostrum
Colostrum
• Contains maternal antibodies
immunoglobins that pass
passive immunity to the calf
• High in nutrient value,
especially vitamin A or its
precursor carotene, B
vitamins, proteins and
minerals
• High solids and protein
content (>2X whole milk)
Feeding: Colostrum
• Feed at least 4 litres colostrum during 1st
day (preferably 1st 6 hrs) of calf’s life
• Insufficient consumption will result in calves
being more susceptible to infectious
diseases – less likely to survive & grow
rapidly
• If the calves are unable to consume the
necessary quantity by suckling, they may
need to be force-fed with an esophageal
tube
Feeding: Colostrum
• Extra colostrum can be frozen and stored
for emergencies when a cow fails to
provide colostrum
• can last for up to a year without any significant
loss of quality
• After receiving adequate amounts of
good quality colostrum, calf will be ready
to consume the liquid diet
• normally separated from mother at about 24 hrs of
• age
• Unable to utilize roughages
• Rumen not developed until 4-8 weeks
Feeding: Liquid Diets
▪ Whole milk
▪ Stored colostrum
▪ Acidified milk: natural or preserved
▪ Milk substitutes/replacers
▪ Reconstituted with water to provide liquid feed
▪ Usually cheaper than whole milk & convenient
▪ will support acceptable performance if made of
high quality ingredients
▪ Whole milk powder
▪ Buttermilk powder
▪ Skim milk powder
▪ Proprietary milk substitutes
Feeding: Liquid Diets
▪ Milk replacers normally contain at least 20%
protein & 10% fat from primarily milk sources
▪ Feed liquid diets once or twice daily in the
amount of 8-10% of birth weight per day for
optimum performance
▪ Although the calves’ nutrient requirements
increase, keep this feeding level constant to
encourage starter feed intake.
Feeding
• Calves will begin to eat small quantities of solid
feeds when they are a few days old
Starter feed:
• Introduce at three days of age
• Should be palatable and course-textured
• Provide free access to hay, straw or clean leafy
pastures – stimulates rumen development
• Clean water free-choice
• Calves with access to water will consume more
starter, which stimulates rumen development and
increases weight gain.
Weaning: normally when calves reach target weight
