Starter ration/grain for suck calves

patjack

Hi all,

I know this has been covered on here before, but anyone on here just feeding a straight grain to young calves?

We are feeding rolled barley straight and they seem to be taking it with no ill effects.
However my uncle who in fairness has more experience than I do has suggested that barley can be hard on a calf's rumen.

Any thoughts?

I haven't found too much evidence to suggest that it is bad except that it breaks down quickly and could acidify the stomach.

Likewise I haven't come across too much evidence to support feeding rolled barley straight, except that calves seem to find it palatable.

Your experiences and thoughts are welcome.

_Brian

The barley is fine.
Maybe mix some soy in to up the Protien content, that would ensure better growth rates.

patjack

Good man Brian thanks, was just worried I could stomach them but they seem to be doing ok.

_Brian

Just be sure they have plenty of clean fresh water and are drinking it.

And clean fresh straw in manger to eat.

CloughCasey1

patjack wrote: »

Hi all,

I know this has been covered on here before, but anyone on here just feeding a straight grain to young calves?

We are feeding rolled barley straight and they seem to be taking it with no ill effects.
However my uncle who in fairness has more experience than I do has suggested that barley can be hard on a calf's rumen.

Any thoughts?

I haven't found too much evidence to suggest that it is bad except that it breaks down quickly and could acidify the stomach.

Likewise I haven't come across too much evidence to support feeding rolled barley straight, except that calves seem to find it palatable.

Your experiences and thoughts are welcome.

My vet said same thing. Lost a calf with stomach problems in Feb and asked what I was giving them. Said rolled barley with soya hulls and a shake of soya bean meal mixed with calf nuts. He said stick to the pencils until 4mts or replace the barley for rolled oats. Not as harsh on the development of the rumen. They only get one chance to get their stomachs right so any amount of harm could stunt the animal for life.

Base price

We rear a few calves every year and always offer the batches crunch due to the fact that it molassed and palatable. We achieve better uptake which leads to faster OAD feeding. Calves that are not grubbing up on crunch are transferred back to a group that are on TAD.
We add rolled barley to the crunch and increase the quantity until they are on full barley. We also try to get the calves out onto grass paddocks asap and weather permitting.
The weather has been kind to us in the last 3 weeks however we have had to bring in younger calves at night in the past few days.
I would not be overtly concerned with the lack of supplementary vitamins & minerals at this stage. You can supplement same via oral vit/min supplements or when they are a little older by administering a min/vit bolus. That is what we do and have been doing so for many years -http://www.agrimin.co.uk/small-trace-boluses-for-calves
The only time we experienced ketosis was due to a animals breaking out, getting into the meal shed and gorging on large quantities of meal/barley/wheat etc.