ForFarmers Vita Start Pellets 25kg

Every dairy farmer takes pride in watching a batch of calves develop into growing heifers and then come through to take their place in the dairy herd.  Like most things however, the secret lies in letting them off to a flying start.

On most dairy farms these days, there are more calves to rear with less labour available, and as a result there can be less time for TLC, the most important element in successful calf rearing.

Shortly after the birth, the intake of colostrum is vital to the calf 's long term well being, but as important, is the calf 's early  development of a functioning rumen, able to digest dry feeds and forage.

As the cow starts to lick her new born calf she is beginning this slow process of rumen development by passing on the seed stock of her rumen microbes to the calf, which over the next three months will multiply and colonise the  developing rumen.

New help in critical early period 

ForFarmers, through new Ethos research and development work, has discovered a way to nutritionally assist and develop the calf throughout this critical early period.

After listening to the needs of customers, research at Ethos development sites over the last 12 months, has led to the introduction of a safe, easy to manage, early weaning, single dry feed system to take the calves from birth to 12 weeks.

Early weaning of calves at 5 weeks is economically desirable but it is essential that rumen development is sufficiently advanced so that the calf  can digest calf dry feeds in sufficient quantity to allow growth to continue without check once the milk replacer is withdrawn.

Ethos work has shown that, by means of selected energy sources, with controlled amounts of  fermentable energy, and the inclusion of Levucell Titan, a rumen specific yeast, the ideal environment is created for the fibre degrading bacteria to develop and multiply.

Trial work has shown that these 'cellulytic' bacteria  have become established earlier and at a higher level, having increased eight times more than a conventional diet in the critical pre-weaning period.

Quicker Rumen  Development 

The rapid establishment of these bacteria, encourages the quicker and longer growth of the rumen papillae leading to 'Quicker Rumen  Development'.

This early rumen development, encourages higher dry feed intakes by five weeks, enabling trouble free early weaning and then steady progress post-weaning towards the true ruminant stage at 12 weeks, more able to withstand the everyday stresses imposed on a growing calf on a modern dairy farm.