My tips for rearing healthy calves that later offer 40 litres a day

Margaret Nkatha Riungu inspects her Holstein Friesian dairy cattle, in her farm in Meru. PHOTO | CAROLINE WAMBUI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Once the cow is served, properly feed it mainly on dairy meal and silage, and withdraw later replacing with dry matter that includes hay, while offering the cow little protein and green matter. This should go on for up to seven months when one stops milking.
  • Margaret feeds her calves exclusively on milk for the first one week, ensures high hygiene standards during feeding and avails clean water throughout so that the animals can tell the difference between water and milk early enough and avoid large water intake later.
  • In a year, she gets between three and five calves.
  • Do not let a calf suckle from the mother for more than a day to avoid attachment with its mother.

Some 15km from Meru town at Nkuriga village, Imenti South, Margaret Nkatha Riungu is hard at work on her farm when we visit at about 5pm.

Carrying pellets, lucerne and sweet potato vines, she moves around a calf pen doling out the sumptuous delights to the animals.

The four calves aged from one and one–and-half-months seem unperturbed by the frigid weather and are animatedly nibbling away.

With Sh40,000, Margaret started her Uruku Investments sometime in 2000. Today, the farm that occupy part of her 12 acres is home to five dairy cows, three heifers, four calves and one bull – all calved and reared here.

“I get a catalogue from the Ministry of Agriculture that is provided yearly on improved breeds where I select semen from the best quality bulls,” says Margaret, who owes much of her success to lessons she picked from Practical Dairy Training Centre at Baraka Farm in Eldoret in 2013 and at Kirwa Farm in Kapseret, also in Eldoret, last year.

“Once the cow is served, I properly feed it mainly dairy meal and silage, which I latter withdraw and replace with the dry matter that includes hay. I offer little protein and green matter. This goes on for up to seven months when I stop milking.”

Two to three weeks before calving, which is the steaming up period, she withdraws the cow from the herd and have it moved to the maternity bay where she feeds it on dairy meal and silage high in protein to ensure high milk production after calving.

When it delivers, Margaret insists that one needs to watch keenly so that the cow will not calve on its own and in case of any complication like the calf’s legs emerging first, a veterinary officer must be alerted immediately.

She warns against assisting a cow to calf, noting pulling the animal out may result in sudden death of both the cow and the calf and it may even destroy the uterus and the pelvic area crippling it.

GOOD STRAW BEDDING

“Once the calf is born, the mucus should be removed immediately to aid it in breathing. Remove either by sucking or wiping with a clean towel as it may cause breathing problems to the calf leading to death.”

She then feeds the calf two litres of colostrum before an hour lapses to boost immunity and reduce susceptibility to infections.

“During this time, the calf is able to absorb the nutrients in the colostrum,” says Philip Oketch from SNV, a Dutch organisation working with farmers.

The calf can also be allowed to suck milk from its mother. However, if the milk is to be milked then fed to the calf, Oketch insists that the feeding should be done from one posture, that is, from the position of its mother’s udder.

“If the calf is made to bend and feeds from the ground position, the colostrum will go straight to the last stomach and no digestion will take place leading to diarrhoea.”

Again if the calf is fed on an upright position with its head up, the colostrum will go direct to the lungs causing difficulties in breathing.

“One, there will be no enough oxygen and, two, the lungs are still very weak and this may cause death,” he says.

“If a calf is allowed to suck from its mother, this should not last more than a day as when withdrawn after a long period, it will cause stress to the mother as it will want to stay with the calf longer. Milk given to a calf should be at least 10 per cent of its body weight per day,” adds Oketch.

Margaret feeds her calves in her dairy cow farm in Meru. PHOTOS | CAROLINE WAMBUI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

A healthy calf should weigh approximately 40kg, but not less than 30kg when it is born.

Margaret insists that the calf pen should be well-aerated with good straw bedding to keep the calf warm.

She feeds her calves exclusively on milk for the first one week, ensures high hygiene standards during feeding and avails clean water throughout so that the animals can tell the difference between water and milk early enough and avoid large water intake later.

FED ON A BALANCED DIET

She later introduces calf pellets and fodder towards the end of the week to help the calf develop the rumen early as it is the most important stomach for cows. Once the calf is able to eat at least a kilo of the calf pellets, she cuts the milk by one kilo.

By the third week, she introduces dry sweet potato vines, lucerne and Kikuyu grass. By one month, she introduces chopped maize plants and keeps reducing the milk intake and by four months the calf feeds purely on the fodder.

“For a well grown calf, a farmer should aim at attaining 500-700g growth rate per day depending on his or her feeding regime,” Oketch explains, adding that at around seven months, depending on the weight of the calf, the heifer should be given a balanced diet in terms of foliage concentrate and once it attains 65 per cent body weight for a mature animals, it is ready to be served, normally at between 12-18 months. De-worming should also be done after two to three months.

Margaret’s calf-rearing skills have seen her five Holstein Friesians produce 150 litres of milk per day, with the highest cow producing 40 litres a day and the rest giving between 28 and 30 litres, produce that she sells to Uruku Society Dairy in Imenti, South Meru making at least Sh90,000 a month.

In a year, she gets between three and five calves. It costs approximately between Sh60,000 and Sh80,000 to raise a calf to the point of insemination, but a Holstein Friesian calf costs up to Sh100,000.

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Guidelines

After calf is born...

  • Once the calf is born, the mucus should be removed immediately to aid it in breathing.
  • Feed the calf two litres of colostrum before an hour lapses after birth to boost immunity.
  • Milk given to a calf should be at least 10 per cent of its body weight per day.
  • Ensure high hygiene standards during feeding and provide clean water.
  • Introduce calf pellets and fodder towards the end of the week to help the calf develop the rumen early.