How to construct a comfortable pen for your calf

Apr 13, 2018

“Ever since I constructed comfortable calf pens, the quality of my cows has improved,” says Matsiko.

Dairy farmer Nicholas Matsiko likes his calves. However, soon after he started his dairy farm in Kashaka, Mbarara, they used to die in their first two months.  

He carried out research and realized that the causes had a lot to do with the care that he used to give them. They were for example exposed to coldness. He then decided to construct special pens for them.

"Ever since I constructed comfortable calf pens, the quality of my cows has improved," says Matsiko. Matsiko's calf pens are complete with standard calf feeding buckets and water troughs.  Unlike Matsiko, most farmers keep their calves in kitchens or under half done structures. Others even let the calves move around with their mothers in the main herd.

"The way a farmer treats a calf from day one largely impacts on the quality and quantity of milk the cow will give him when it grows up," explains Dr Swidiq Mugerwa. Equating it to human beings, he says, "It is similar to the way we take care of our children. If you do not give a child a good beginning, he will not have a good ending. Certain things will miss in their life,"

Mugerwa says that mismanagement of the calves starts from the way they are housed and fed. "Calf housing is very important in the development of a calf. It must not be any house or structure. It must be able to among others offer a good sleeping area away from rain, keep normal temperature, good air flow and offer accessible feeding area," he says. Calves must also have space to exercise, just like human children.  

Of course, constructing a standard calf pen, like the ones that Matsiko has may be expensive for some farmers. This is why the National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NALIRRI) has come up with a calf pen that can be easily adopted by average farmers.

"It is largely constructed using common materials like timber, nails and iron sheets," says Walusimbi Kato, the NARO Calf Pen chief developer. For one calf, you need a space of around 5 long x4feet wide. This means that you multiply the number of pens with the number of calves you expect. The height is around 5feet high. The Calf Pen is lifted off the ground by half a foot. This is intended to allow rain water go under it. At the front, there are provisions for two small buckets. One is for milk and the other is for water. The floor of the pen should also be covered with dried grass for the calf to sleep comfortably.  This grass should be changed at least every after one week.

According to estimates, a farmer requires three iron sheets at a total of sh100,000, 8 pieces of 14x1feet timber at a cost of around sh80,000, two 14feet timber panels at a cost of sh20,000, 3kgs of 3inch nails at a total cost of sh20,000, 2kgs of 4inch nails at a cost of sh20,000. This means that with around sh300,000 including labour, a farmer can have a good pen.

Feeding the calf from birth to weaning

This is the most critical period in a calf's life. The goal is to keep them alive, healthy and growing during this period of feeding. Calves have special nutritional needs. If these needs are not met, the calf can run into serious health issues either as a calf or later in life as an adult cow or bull. They may for example face stunted growth, produce low milk when they grow up or deliver poor off springs.  

Feeding Colostrum

According to Dr Jolly Kabirizi, a livestock forage/nutrition research working with NALIRRI, colostrum is a milky fluid that comes from the udder of cows the first few days after calving, before true milk appears. It contains proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and proteins (antibodies) that fight disease-causing agents such as bacteria and viruses. Antibody levels in colostrums can be 100 times higher than levels in regular cow's milk.

Colostrum intake is critical for a newborn calf, as its immune system is not fully developed when born. The calf must rely on colostrum from its mother until its own immune system is developed at 1 to 2 months of age. Research has shown that the bacterial exposure a calf receives at birth influences the amount of colostrum it will absorb. Early exposure of the intestine to large quantities of bacteria probably interferes with colostrum absorption. If maternity stalls are used, they should be clean, dry and bedded well with dry grass.

Generally a calf should receive 5 to 6 % of its body weight as colostrum within the first 6 hours of life, and another 5 to 6 % of its body weight when the calf is 12 hours old.

Artificial Colostrum

In case the mother cow dies at calving, artificial colostrum can be constituted formulated with:

 

  • 0.5 litre fresh milk

  • 1 fresh egg

  • 0.25 litre fresh water

  • 1 teaspoon cod liver oil

  • 1 teaspoon castor or olive oil (laxative). All oils are commonly sold in super markets.  

 
On day 5, start feeding whole milk at a rate 1 litre/day for every 10 kg live weight of calf. The ration is again split into 2 feedings. Do not alter feeding times and quantity of milk. Bottle-feeding can be used. Bucket feeding starts by inserting your 2 fingers in the bucket with milk and lowering the head of the calf's mouth into the bucket.

According to Kabirizi, milk consumed by a calf constitutes 15-30% of the farm milk available for sale or processing in intensive (zero grazing) smallholder dairy cattle production systems in Uganda. In order to minimize milk consumption by calves, farmers often resort to restricted milk feeding systems, thereby, retarding calf growth, production and reproductive potential. Losses of up to 65% of daily body weight gains and 12% of body condition score have been reported. Under intensive dairy production systems bull calves are often completely eliminated at birth, resulting into low productivity and consequent high loss of farm income. "On average, a calf should consume 6litres of milk per day divided into two feedings," Dr Mugerwa says.

Roughage and concentrate feeding

Gradually introduce good quality forage initially, from about 2 weeks of age. This stimulates rumen development and reduces problems of calf constipation. Introduce concentrate (calf starter) at about the same time pasture is introduced. Feeding is gradually increased so that by 12 weeks of age the calf is receiving 1-1.5 kg per day. Any change over of feed type should allow a gradual adaptation to new feed at least over a period of 7 days.  The average cost of concentrate is sh1,000 per kilogram

Water is key

According to Kabirizi, provide the calf at least 10 litres per day of clean drinking water at all times, especially when the calf begins eating solid feed. "Water troughs must be easily accessible to the calf on the calf pen," Mugerwa says. Troughs can be made from several common materials including buckets or basins.

Weaning

"In most developed livestock societies like the USA, calved are weaned according to their body weight," says Dr Mugerwa. He explains that standard weight for weaning calves in the US is 100kgs.  "These can be attained even in one month," he says. In Uganda however, the most common weaning age in intensive dairy systems is 8 weeks (two months) but it may go up to 13 weeks (4 months) depending on, physical body condition of the calf, body weight and feed consumption.

Dr Kabirizi advises that calves should be weaned gradually when they are eating one or two kg of calf starter per day. This practice not only reduces costs associated with the high price of liquid feeds, but reduces the likelihood of calf scours. Weaning may be delayed when the weather is cold or calves are weakened by previous or existing illnesses.

Feeding the weaned calf

Calves should be housed individually until they are 9-10 weeks of age. Forage legumes like Lablab purpureus (lablab) have high protein content, but legume hay or a mixture of legume-grass pasture cut before flowering is more palatable. Continue to feed calf starter and limited quantities of pasture until starter intake reaches about 2 kg per day.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});