As seen in Dairy News
Rearing calves on high nutritional fibre optimises rumen development and enables faster transition to grass feeding after weaning, with minimal or no weaning check, says Fiber Fresh Feeds Limited. Fiber Fresh cites the work of growth and development physiologist Dr Mark Oliver, a senior research fellow at the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, and the director of the Ngapouri Research Farm laboratory at Reporoa. Fiber Fresh reports Dr Oliver as saying that managing calves during weaning on high nutritional fibre is an effective method of transitioning the animals onto pasture in the shortest possible time.
Although Dr Oliver’s research focuses on sheep, he says his rumen development work is also relevant to dairy farmers. “If you’re going to rear an animal for pasture feeding then it will need a big ‘engine’ (i.e. rumen) to cope. High nutritional fibre products like FiberStart® and FiberGain® will support optimum growth and rumen development for a continued high-fibre diet." Dr Oliver also spoke about his work, saying that: “In the expensive experimental work I’m doing I can’t afford weaning checks. I need to be confident the product I’m using will minimise the time it takes lambs to transition onto grass while still maintaining their growth rate. After 20 years of weaning and feeding sheep, I can confidently say High Nutritional fibre will optimise transition onto pasture and is vital for maintaining growth rate. We recently conducted an experiment weaning lambs on FiberStart® and the weaning was easy and the grow rates were well maintained with no marked check.”
Fiber Fresh says the results of Dr Oliver’s experiment support the findings of a more extensive trial in 2008 to compare the Fiber Fresh Feeds High Nutritional Fiber calf rearing system with the conventional hay, meal and milk system. “This earlier trial concluded calves reared on the Fiber Fresh Feeds system developed a bigger and more robust rumen and their papillae development was markedly better than that of conventionally reared calves,” the company says. “The Fiber Fresh Calves also developed the correct bacteria needed for pasture consumption, which prepared their rumens for faster transition to grass after weaning.”
Fiber Fresh Feeds Limited General Manager of Operations Michael Bell, says consistent feedback from customers, and ongoing field trials, assure the company that rearing calves on its products will enable farmers to save money and time by weaning their calves onto pasture in just seven weeks. “One of the key benefits of transitioning calves more quickly onto pasture is the increased milk solid income generated by having more milk in the vat sooner.”
