If you want to be successful raising dairy cattle, you need to think about rumen development in calves. It is a vital stage in their early growth, so it can provide big benefits if you get it right. This can set them up for long term performance. There’s is a lot to look at here, including the importance of providing the right animal feed at the correct times. Let’s have a look.

Liquid

All mammals start off with a liquid diet before transitioning slowly to solid food. It ensures they get the nutrients they need initially while the digestive system has time to develop. They can then move on to hard foods.

Calves are no different. The right liquid diet is really important for rumen development. The key thing is to ensure they get enough colostrum early on. It helps build the digestive system and also has a big impact on resistance to parasites; calves get beneficial antibodies from adult cows in the colostrum.

Ultimately, if you give calves a whole milk diet at first it can improve milk yield in the future. This is fantastic for farmers.

Probiotics

If you want to smooth the transition from liquid to solid animal feed, it’s a good idea to give calves probiotics. They help with rumen development, particularly when it comes to providing a better microbial balance. Some species of yeast, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are very useful.

The right solids

When calves can begin eating solid food, it’s important to choose the right types of feed. One thing to think about is fermentable carbohydrates. Good options here include corn and wheat. Feeding them to calves provides big benefits, including enhancing production of fatty acids to boost rumen development. However, you need to ensure you don’t overfeed with fermentable feeds. If you do, you risk decreasing rumen pH and acidosis; the latter can cause digestive problems, decreased production, and even death in the worst cases.

Like adult cattle, calves will soon end up consuming a large amount of forage as part of their diet. Moving away from a starter feed to forage is beneficial, improving rumen development and pH. It even provides dental benefits. However, be careful to time it right post-weaning.

Volatile fatty acids

Finally, it’s important to consider that benefits of providing the right amounts of different fatty acids in solid feed diets. It can help reticulorumen development, enzyme activity and fermentation, boosting growth.

Do you need help with animal feed?

As you can see, feeding calves the right things can have a huge impact on their overall health and future productivity. Think carefully about what you give them at each key stage, including pre and post-weaning.

If you need to order quality animal feed for different animals, including dairy cows, sheep, and more, you can rely on JS Hubbuck Ltd. We have products from top brands, and can offer information if you’re trying to plan the ideal diets. So, get in touch today to learn more.