LLM Farm Vets October Newsletter 2019

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6
Feeding regime – Do you change the
quantity or concentration of milk during
the colder months?
□□I feed the same all year round (1 point)
□□I decrease the quantity or concentration
(0 points)
□□I increase the quantity or concentration
(2 points)
Monitoring Growths – Do you monitor the
growths of your calves?
□□I don’t take or record any weights (0 points)
□□I weigh my calves (1 point)
□□The VetTechs weigh my calves (2 points)
□□I get the VetTechs to weigh my calves and
implement changes to increase the
average DLWG (3 points)
It goes without saying that calves are
bound to use more energy to keep
warm in the colder months. Where
does this energy come from? Their
nutritional intake! To ensure that calves
maintain their DLWG throughout the
colder months you need to increase
their nutritional input (remember this
will need to be done slowly - speak to
your vet for the best method)
The best way to monitor your calves
DLWG is through routine weighing, this
can also help you to identify certain
periods where your calves either thrive
or don’t do as well. Weighing the calves
also allows you to monitor the impact
of changes you have made, giving you
justification of alterations. Additionally
it allows you to see when individuals
have doubled their birth weight, which
will highlight when individuals need
weaning.
Score 0-5
(Improvements could be made)
Have a chat with your vet
to see how changes can
help improve your calves
health and environment
over the colder months.
Not all changes need to
be costly, but can reap
big rewards!
Score 6-10
(Could you pick up any quick
simple tips?)
Great work so far, just
a few tweaks could
improve your calves’
environment even further,
helping you to gain and
maintain a DLWG of at
least 0.8kg. Could you
pick up any hints and
tips to alter your rearing
system?
Score 11-15
(Keep it up)
Looks like you’re already
on top of your calf rearing
system over the winter
months. If you lost a few
points could you make
simple changes to give
you a perfect score?
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Could you improve your score? Remember to speak to your vet when making
any changes regarding calf housing and rearing. The VetTechs are also really
useful as they see a lot of different calf systems; they may be able to discuss their
ideas with you and your vet over a brew!
Hope this is of use to you, looking forward to hearing your scores! Emily