A new way of accelerating calf performance is now available in the UK - having already boosted the growth, development and lifetime performance of over 1 million cows in northern Europe.
Axcelera-C is an extremely palatable high lactose accelerator for calves - containing more than 40% lactose. It's created by AB Neo (A division of AB Agri Ltd) who believe that the neonate (baby animal) holds the key to switching on lifetime performance in animals.
With Axcelera-C, dairy and beef farmers are seeing:
- Accelerated calves grow faster up to weaning and beyond
- The rumen develops faster from day 3, with reduced or no growth check at weaning
- Calves can be weaned much earlier (by 1-2 weeks) - saving time and money
- Calves suffer less from nutritional scours, have glossier coats and require fewer veterinary interventions
- Reduced rearing costs and faster growing calves when used with a reduced CMR program
Axcelera-C - The missing link in accelerated calf rearing
The calf represents the future of the herd and both scientific and on-farm experience confirms that whatever you do in the calf's pre-weaning life will determine its lifetime performance. Conventional calf rearing uses a combination of calf milk replacer from birth (after colostrum) in partnership with a starter feed - offered within the first weeks of life. The aim being to maximise milk intake and reach 1.5kg daily intake of solid feed in order to wean the calf. Recognising this, progressive dairy farmers offer very high levels of CMR in order to achieve rapid calf growth, but can still sometimes be faced with a loss of growth momentum at weaning - suffering a growth-check and at time their calves appear to 'go backwards' after weaning. This is due to an under-developed rumen being unable to support the calf's energy requirement after she has been weaned. This is where Axcelera-C - The world's first accelerator for calves' is the missing link in how to easily accelerate your existing approach to calf rearing.
Use Axcelera-C with your existing CMR system and start developing the rumen from day 3.
Axcelera-C is used in addition to your existing milk system - to optimise the calf's lactose and milk protein intakes - when it is at its most efficient. Critically, because Axcelera-C is a solid it enters the rumen (unlike liquid calf milk replacers that enter the abomasum) where it is digested and stimulates early and rapid rumen development. Our objective in rearing calves is to transform it from being monogastric to a ruminant as efficiently as possible, equipping it for lifetime performance. In the first 2-3 weeks of life, a calf produces an abundance of lactase (the enzyme to break down lactose) whereas it is ill-equipped with the enzymes required to digest starch and fibre delivered in a starter feed in this same period. By offering only Axcelera-C for the first 3 weeks of life, we optimise intakes of available energy into the rumen accelerating its development.
How to use Axcelera-C
Because of its palatability (it smells like it's a blend of Milky Bars and 'malted milk' biscuits), calves will start to intake Axcelera-C from day 3. This gives the rumen at least a one week head start over solid intakes with starter feed, with each calf requiring about 9kg of the highly digestible Axcelera-C to be accelerated.
Day 3 - Day 24
- Offer Axcelera-C ad-lib, replacing starter feed, showing the calf how to take it from your hand, and then from a shallow bucket.
- Each day, offer fresh Axcelera-C and ensure water is freely available which also enters the rumen to help stimulate rumen development.
Day 24 - weaning
- Introduce your starter feed and blend in 150g of Axcelera-C per head per day.
- Measure dry matter intakes and wean when dry matter intakes on 3 consecutive days reach 1.5kg per calf.
Beef & Dairy.
Axcelera-C is also used on beef farms, including black and white beef units. Bull calves will routinely only reach the rearing units from dairy farms at 2-3 weeks of age. These calves are likely to have received fewer inputs compared to heifer calves so their condition, early growth and development may be sub-optimal, and at times even seriously compromised. Axcelera-C is introduced as a 15% blend with their starter feed. Beef farmers are seeing accelerated growth, significant reductions in lifetime mortality and improvements in carcass quality.
In summary, Axcelera-C offers UK dairy & beef farmers a new tool to use when rearing calves, and works in conjunction with the existing system of CMR & starter feed to deliver faster growing calves that form the foundations for enhanced lifetime performance.
