For decades, dairy farmers and calf rearers have been using 2 tools to raise calves:

  • Liquid Milk (calf milk replacer or native milk)
  • Starter feed (muesli blend or pellet)

Assuming that all calves receive the correct levels and quality of colostrum a few hours after birth and that water and straw are available ad-lib, then farmers have been using the same tools for calf rearing for decades.

Calves are created and designed to digest lactose in abundance from birth, and perform their best on liquid milk. We also offer a starter feed to our calves in the first few days, but interest is low and intakes are even smaller. The small quantities of starter feed that they do intake are digested poorly by calves in the first few weeks of life, following their low levels of enzyme secretion for starch and fibre digestion.

As we rear calves, our aim is to develop them from a monogastric into a ruminant, achieving this as quickly as possible by providing the best nutrition for the animal. A calf's ability to be weaned without concerns about harmful checks on growth and development is determined by the rumen's ability to deliver sufficient energy once the liquid milk intakes stop. The better the developed the rumen, the more energy it can deliver and the earlier the calf can be weaned off liquid milk.

Unfortunately, because a calf is poor at digesting starter feed in the first few weeks and even worse at ingesting significant quantities, we are in effect missing out on 2-3 weeks of rumen development.

Fortunately, because Axcelera-C is so palatable, calves as young as 4 days will consume it, and being a solid, it will enter the rumen. Vitally, because it is 40% lactose, it fits perfectly with the calf's digestive capabilities, meaning we can now develop the rumen better in the first 2-3 weeks of life compared to the standard starter feed tool used in the same period.

Axcelera-C is offered ad-lib for the 1st 3 weeks to replace starter feed completely, and then blended in a 15% with the starter feed until weaning. As such, we win back 2-3 weeks of rumen development which means that farmers are seeing their caves reach their target of 1.5kg or dry matter intake, weaning 2-3 weeks earlier.