It might be old news, but genetics, health and nutrition remain the key ingredients to producing strong, fertile dairy heifers that are able to calf at 24months of age and produce at least three lactations of milk.

However, with the average number of lactations on UK dairy farms sitting at just over three, a huge number of milk producers stand to gain from paying more attention to the health and wellbeing of young calves to ensure they are able to grow sufficiently and be fit enough to hold to the bull at 14-15months of age.

Speaking at an online Herd Futures press briefing on how to improve the future productivity of the next generation of dairy cows, Dr Jessica Cooke, R and D manager with Volac, said heifers that calve at 23-25months of age are more fertile, produce more milk and survive longer in the herd, but to achieve such goals requires better colostrum and feed management. Furthermore, she stressed that colostrum needs to be administered quickly in right amount, be of the right quality and it has to be squeaky clean.

"Producers need to take advantage of the high feed efficiency of young calves, which in the in the first two months of age is 2:1 and falls to 3:1 in the next two months. Calves should be 80kg by weaning," she added.

While the cow's own colostrum should be of better quality than powdered alternatives, Dr Cooke advised producers always to check the quality of it by using a refractometer and making sure newborn calves are given sufficient amounts within 2hours of birth. She also advised the use of a quality milk powder to feed calves.

"Whole milk is not always the best for calves, in that while it does contain high levels of protein and energy, it can vary in quality, consistency and bacteria.

"More dairy farmers now recognise the efficiency, consistency, biosecurity and convenience benefits of feeding a calf milk formula and there is less risk of digestive upsets and scours with formula milk provided it is mixed accurately and fed in sufficient quantity. However, not all calf milks are the same."

She added that trials using Volac's calf milk formulas using the concentrated milk protein raw material Imunopro® – made from 1.1bn litres of the whey co-product produced from UK cheese manufacturers who rely on British farmers’ milk – compared to those fed a low level Imunopro formula milk, revealed that the high Imunopro calves were 3.5kg heavier at 56days of age at 77.7kg against their rivals at 74.1kg at the same age.

Better disease control through improved hygiene, housing, management and vaccination programmes can also help to increase daily liveweight gains, according to Rob Simpson from MSD Animal Health who has been reassured by the Herd Futures survey of UK dairy farmers which revealed that 78% of respondents strongly agree that preventing disease in their youngstock will lead to better later life productivity.

"Colostrum kickstarts everything, but producers can support the immune system of their calves further with a good vaccination programme. Vaccines are important, particularly for control of pneumonia and scours at this stage but with penetration rates at only 17% for management of infectious calf scours and 36% for pneumonia control, the industry has some way to go,” he said.

Mr Simpson highlighted the use of thoracic ultrasound scanning (TUS) of calf lungs as an important educator in this respect.

“We think that if vets are able to somehow show their farmer clients hidden, productivity-limiting lung damage as a result of pneumonia – even before a calf shows visible signs of any disease – this will definitely foster better disease management education. And farmers seem to agree – 79% said that this veterinary support would certainly help them focus more on pneumonia control,” he said.

He added that just shy of 80% of UK dairy farmers see their vet as a key adviser when it comes to youngstock rearing advice, explaining that MSD Animal Health is currently investing in a wide range of tools – alongside TUS of calf lungs – to help vets engage more proactively with farmers over youngstock health issues.

“We know that if we can help encourage better discussions on dairy farms – and be able to show youngstock rearers the tangible value of better disease prevention practices – these Herd Futures survey findings clearly show farmers will be willing to listen when it comes to meeting the future sustainability challenge.”

Dairy farmers are also increasingly recognising the value of genomics too, according to Ben Hogg, national business development manager with Cogent UK, who said that just shy of 90% of the respondents in the survey agreed that the use of sexed semen is a real ‘game-changer’.

“We are also close to being able to help farmers measure more accurately the efficiency with which dairy herd females are able to utilise their feed – 94% of the survey respondents see this as being important over the next five years,” said Mr Hogg.

"Decisions made today on what heifers are retained can make a huge difference to the efficiency of your herd in the future and by selecting heifers on genomics the reliability of those heifers is far higher."

He added that genomic testing can identify genes that cause a heifer to lose a pregnancy before 35 days and before 60 days. Cogent is also looking into feed efficiency of animals when feed costs represent 37-50% of the total milk price.

"There are animals that can produce the same amount of milk with 5kg more feed and others that can produce the same with 3kg less, and that feed efficiency gene is 20% heritable so it can make a huge difference," added Mr Hogg

Herd Futures survey

Some 247 UK dairy farmers completed the Herd Futures survey organised by Cogent UK, MSD Animal Health and Volac, in the spring of 2021 and the results are as follows:

* 83% of UK dairy farmers see investment in improved genetics, genomics, nutrition and vaccination as being important to producing better quality heifer replacements so that these animals have a more productive life when they enter the adult milking herd

* Colostrum management was ranked No 1 priority, followed by better genetics, facilities and farm management is what dairy farmers will be prioritising focus and investment in their youngstock rearing systems over the next five years. This was followed by improved pre-weaning calf nutrition and better use of vaccines.