It's Not Just Corn Prices That Are High!

Dairy Pipeline: August 2007

Bob James
Extension Dairy Scientist, Dairy Nutrition
(540) 231-4770; jamesre@vt.edu

Anyone feeding calves recently has noticed that the price of milk replacers (and whole milk) is up drastically. Milk prices now exceed $20/cwt. Dried whey and whey protein concentrate, two principal sources of proteins in milk replacers, increased from $.52 to $.80/lb. and from $1.00 to $1.65/lb, respectively, since January. Whey protein prices have increased due to its popularity as a protein source for health foods and it is also used as a substitute for skim milk powder in baking. Edible lard, a primary fat source in milk replacers increased from $425 to over $700/ton during the same time period due to demand for its use as biodiesel.

How should one respond to these prices increases? First, remember that the calves’ nutrient requirements have not changed. These are young animals that require large quantities of high quality energy and protein for optimal growth. Deficiencies cause increased illness, mortality and poor growth. As calf feed costs have increased so have the value of calves with day old calves selling for more than $500. At these high prices a saving of $50 in calf rearing costs can rapidly be offset by increased illness or death of one calf. What’s the best strategy to control costs? Some do’s and don’ts follow:

Do’s:

• Wean calves early. It costs more than $1.50/ day to feed even the lowest quality milk replacer in limited amounts. Most calves can be weaned by 6 weeks when they are eating at least 1.5 to 2.0 lb. of calf tarter per day. There is no advantage to feeding milk for extended periods of time. Early weaning requires good ventilation and an abundant supply of water. Each extra week of milk or milk replacer feeding adds more than $10 to the cost of rearing the calf.
  
  
• Feed the highest quality milk replacer to calves during the first month of life as it’s the sole source of nutrients and they don’t digest vegetable proteins well. Milk replacers with all milk based protein sources will typically be low in fiber (<.15%). Beware of off brand milk replacers that seem very low in price. Reputable manufacturers of milk replacers test incoming loads of whey proteins and reject sources which are high in Salmonella, E. coli or may be heat damaged.
  
  
• Economize by feeding milk replacers with soy or wheat proteins only to older calves (over 4 weeks of age) since they more readily digest plant proteins than the younger calves.
  
  
• Provide fresh clean water every day. Consider wiping or rinsing water buckets in dilute chlorinated water to retard growth of algae and harmful bacteria.

Don’ts:

• Use waste milk. Every farm has unsalable milk which has no value and might be dumped. Although it can be an economical source of nutrients, there are significant risks involved in feeding raw waste milk. Milk is a great growth medium and field studies have shown that it can transmit Johne’s, BVD, Staph and E. coli to the calf. On-farm pasteurizers are available but they require a significant investment in equipment and facilities as well as labor and supervision. Waste milk must be refrigerated if not pasteurized immediately after milking. Allowing it to warm to room temperature results in rapid bacterial growth and significant risk of digestive upsets.
  
  
• Purchase milk replacer on a lowest cost per bag basis. Low cost milk replacers use vegetable proteins in place of milk proteins. Avoid milk replacers containing egg products or unprocessed soy flour. These proteins are not digested well by the calf and may cause allergic reactions in the intestine.

Regardless of the economic conditions, it’s necessary to maintain a high quality nutrient supply to baby calves. Would you feed low quality or limited feed to a human infant? Why should the calf be different?