HEIFERMAX

Calf Nutrition – growing better heifers.

The Professional Calf Rearers’ Association  is holding its annual conference  on January 17^th 2011 at the Ballantyne Centre, Tatura. This is the first day of International Dairy Week and we hope that farmers will take the opportunity to attend our conference and stay for the rest of dairy week.

Since our inception we have had high calibre speakers presenting information a range of calf & dairy heifer related topics; this year is no exception. The theme of this year’s conference is calf nutrition and related information will be presented by four speakers.

 Daviesway, one of our gold sponsors, has kindly offered to sponsor Holger Kruse, sales and marketing manager for Holm & Laue in Germany. Holger will talk about colostrum. Holger is the Sales and Marketing Manager for Holm Laue, Germany. Holm & Laue manufacture automatic calf feeders, Milk Taxis, Colo Quick colostrum handling equipment and calf housing equipment and systems.

Holger has a number of years experience in the calf rearing industry and has in-depth knowledge of the benefits of feeding good quality colostrum in the right volume and temperature to new born calves. His research and experience proves with out a doubt that calves fed good quality colostrum will be healthier, more resistant to disease, develop faster and prove to be high quality milk producing cows.

 Alltech, another gold sponsor,  is providing Dr. Andreas Kocher who  has over 18 years experience in feed supplements and monogastric nutrition. He obtained his Diploma as an Agricultural engineer (Dipl. Ing. Agr. ETHZ) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology before taking up a position as a nutritionist with a large feed mill in Switzerland. In 2000 he attained his Ph.D. from the University of New England, Australia. Andreas is currently based in Australia and employed as Technical Manager and Regulatory Affairs for Alltech Biotechnology.  His role involves technical assistance and support for the sales and marketing teams and establishing key research directions and strategies with particular focus on the role of functional feed additives in modulating intestinal health and integrity. Andreas will be talking about the effect of nutrition on calf health and performance. Two factors are key to determining a calf’s health and survival during the first weeks of life – its immune system and its gut microflora. Understanding how to manipulate these factors through dietary interventions is essential to prevent calf scours, calf mortalities, as well as ensuring good calf growth rates . Novel tools in the field of Nutrigenomics will give scientists and producers a more precise tool to differentiate and identify strategies to maximize not only animal performance but ultimately profitability

It was planned that Dr. John Milton, the highly respected animal nutritionist, Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia and Director of his own feed analysis and consultancy company,  Independent Lab Services - would talk about his development of an alternative feeding system for calves. The Milk Substitute Feeding System (MSFS) is designed to be a cost-effective way to rear dairy calves with no liquid milk fed after 15 days of age.

Unfortunately, the severe drought in Western Australia has put so much pressure on Dr. Milton’s feed analysis business that he has had to withdraw. We are in the process of finding a suitable substitute speaker and will publish details when they are available. We can look forward to hearing Dr. Milton talk at a future conference.

Ian Sawyer, another highly experienced ruminant nutritionist, now based in Romsey and working  for Feedworks will present information about optimising ration digestability and animal health in young calves. An understanding of the enzymic systems is a crucial building block in optimising both growth and health in all young animals, including calves.  Understanding the strengths and limitations of the digestive processes in pre-weaned calves allows greater feed digestibility , greater growth and much reduced health challenges . Calves then face a second challenge based around the transition to an operational rumen.  Understanding of energy and amino acid requirement and provision make it very clear the style of calf feeds that should be made available during the weaning phase.

Ian is a commercial Nutritionist who has worked across a wide range of  monogastric and ruminant species including meat chickens , pigs , layer hens , quail, ducks , dairy , beef , fat lambs and even yabbies! These days Ian operates almost exclusively in the ruminant sector , but his experience in monogastric nutrition is a great back ground for calf nutrition.

In a previous role Ian worked for 15 years in the formulation and production of milk replacers, and found the  diagnosing of calf scours over the phone from 500km away, a truly unique challenge that he never really mastered!

 His wide exposure across species  gives him a great platform to comment on the nutrient provision and requirement of growing live stock; some of the basics of successful growth are shared across a diverse range of species, including calves.

 Rather then look for “bandaids” , it is Ian’s belief that an understanding of the basics of nutrition and nutrient requirement will allow the design of  feeding programmes that will offer the calf the best change in terms of both growth and health which inevitably go hand in hand. Ian can also comment on calf challenges more specifically to the group at the conference.

 Included in the price of attendance will be  morning and afternoon teas as well as a light lunch. The Ballantyne Centre will provide dinner in the evening; bookings for this are advisable as the Centre is normally very busy  as it caters  for dinner for many of the  IDW attendees. Meals are “pub style” meals – steak, schnitzels, chicken breasts, lasagne etc.  and most main courses are in the range of $12 to $16.

The conference is free to members and will cost non-members $120. Membership fees were due at the beginning of the financial year and are $100 per person or $275 for corporate membership.

Registrations are essential for catering purposes. To register, call 0428 867551.