For calves that are fed >6 litres CMR / day.
Calves that are fed more than 6 litres of CMR a day are likely to have reduced solid feed intake. At weaning, their rumen is likely to be less well-developed and their reduced starter feed intakes will deliver less energy to the calf.
This means that calves can experience an energy-deficit at weaning, when the easy energy in the form of CMR reduces, but the energy gained via the poorly developed rumen is insufficient for the calf's requirements. This results in a loss of growth, performance and the health status of the calf. Some farmers comment that their calves 'melt' or go backwards at weaning.
In this case, the highly palatable Axcelera-C is offered in addition to the existing calf milk replacer and starter feed 10 days either side of weaning. The high lactose solid feed enters the rumen, delivering the energy lost via the reduced milk at weaning. This means that the growth and performance slump is avoided, growth rates are maintained, enabling calves to be between 7-10kg heavier 30 days after weaning.
Each calf is offered Axcelera-C in a 20:80 blend with starter feed, 10 days either side of weaning.
- Calf growth and performance continues after weaning.
- Calves are quieter and more content at weaning - due to hunger being suppressed.
- Eliminates the age-old problem of the weaning slump or 'growth check'.
- Calves are typically 7-10kg heavier 30 days after weaning.
For calves that are fed <6 litres CMR / day.
Calves that are fed less than 6 litres of CMR a day will eat more starter feed earlier. The highly palatable Axcelera-C is offered in addition to the existing calf milk replacer and starter feed to accelerate solid feed intakes earlier - enabling earlier weaning.
Each calf is offered Axcelera-C from day 5 until weaning in addition to CMR and starter feed.
Calves have poor starter feed intakes up to 2 weeks of age, limiting rumen development. Axcelera-C increases solid feed intake from day 5, boosting the energy intakes via the rumen, and accelerating rumen development. This means that higher energy intakes from solid feed into the rumen enable earlier weaning.
- Calves are naturally ready to wean earlier.
- Save on time, Calf milk replacer and labour costs.
- Calves fed Axcelera-C show accelerated growth post-weaning.
Boosting solid feed intake is essential for accelerating the growth of a calf.
The extra benefit of Axcelera-C is that it enters the rumen and promotes faster and earlier rumen development. Some farmers have seen their calves cudding at 2 weeks old with Axcelera-C.
FOR BEST RESULTS
• Suitable for calves fed less than 6 litres of CMR a day. (Calves are not too full on milk - and want to eat)
• Offer fresh Axcelera-C every day. If any remains after 24 hours, remove it and reduce the quantity offered.
• Fresh water and clean straw should always be available
• In weeks 1-2 - offer Axcelera-C to calves at suckling height to increase intakes
MEASURE & MANAGE PERFORMANCE
• Wean calves @ 1.5kg dry matter intake (not age, size or weight). Mark a feed bucket at 1.5kg and record age (days) when they empty the bucket
• Weigh calf growth and performance 30 days after weaning. This is a measure of rumen performance, rather than what milk has achieved prior to weaning.
• Record treatments for pneumonia, scours and other issues.
Boosting solid feed intake is essential for accelerating the growth of a calf.
The extra benefit of Axcelera-C is that it enters the rumen and promotes faster and earlier rumen development. Some farmers have seen their calves cudding at 2 weeks old with Axcelera-C.
WEAN YOUR CALVES AT 40 DAYS – WITH ACCELERATED PERFORMANCE
- Calves eat 1.5kg dry matter intake by 40 days with Axcelera-C
- Save time and money
- No growth check at weaning
- Accelerated pre & post-weaning performance
A new way of using Axcelera-C
More farmers are starting to use Axcelera-C in an advanced way to wean their calves at 40 days, saving themselves time, hassle and money.
Their accelerated calves show no check at weaning and grow strongly through to weaning and beyond. Axcelera-C is providing farmers with a new way of optimising the lifetime performance of their calves, faster and more efficiently.
Proven on Farm
"We are weaning at 40 days, improving calf health and saving £30 / calf in rearing costs"
“Since using Axcelera-C, we have been fascinated to see for ourselves how the accelerated rumen development has changed the shape of our calves, giving them a much deeper body and greater capacity.
Growth rate has been increased and our calves condition, vigour and initiative has also improved. We believe Axcelera-C is giving our calves more energy earlier and because it is digested in the rumen from a few days of age, the calves are growing faster and able to cope much better against disease.
"100% Axcelera-C is offered ad-lib to our calves for the first 4 weeks, and we continue to feed it through to day 50 (10 days after our calves are weaned). We also introduce a forage / starter blend from 4 weeks, and reduce the milk we feed with our automatic feeder to encourage solid feed intake, weaning at 40 days”.
Graham & Amy Morton (Samlesbury, Lancashire) – 200 Montbeliardes
In addition to the increased throughput of calves through the system, they are seeing:
Reduction in Costs
- Save approx £30 / calf
- Decrease in levels of Milk Powder used
- Decrease in medicines required for treatment of scours etc
- Switch from reliance on Starter Nuts to TMR mix
Improvement in Animal Health and Condition
- Increased depth and rumen capacity, seen already at 4 months old
- Increased size for age
- Increased initiative & energy
- Shiny coat and overall condition improved
- Reduced illness e.g Scours.
Advanced Weaning Program
The key features of the Accelerated Weaning Program are:
- Milk Program: Reduce the peak quantity of your existing milk program by 1 litre per day
- After colostrum: Offer Axcelera-C ad lib up to a maximum of 700g per calf per day until day 50.
- At 14 days: Introduce TMR mixed with your starter feed.
- At 40 days or on intake: Wean the calves from liquid milk.
Calves should always have free access to water and straw.
The Axcelera-C Calf Rearing System is designed to deliver optimal nutrition to calves for lifetime performance.
The system works by feeding the right quality and quantity of Axcelera-C CMR to provide exacting nutrition whilst stimulating calves to eat Axcelera-C from 5 days. This means calves benefit from the balance between high lactose (46%) liquid milk intakes and high lactose (40%) solid feed intakes.
High and early solid feed intakes are crucial for rumen development that will develop growth momentum most significantly up to weaning and beyond. Consequently, calves naturally eat more solid feed earlier, reaching 1.5kg dry matter intake in readiness for weaning faster than conventional systems.
Trials show that the Axcelera-C Calf Rearing System grows faster calves by feeding less milk.
Two groups of calves were offered 2 different diets - with confounding results:
- 40 day Axcelera-C system: 26kg of Calf Milk Replacer & 14.2 kg of Axcelera-C per calf.
- 70 day program: 45kg of Calf Milk Replacer per calf.
By 120 days - Axcelera-C calves fed 19kg less milk than conventional high milk calves were 8.3kg heavier.
By 120 days - Axcelera-C calves fed 19kg less milk than conventional high milk calves were growing 160g/day faster
Save £25 / calf using the 40 day milk system, and grow faster growing calves.
CALF RANCHES
Raising calves on a calf ranch, due to the number of animals raised at one time, uses Axcelera-C in a different way compared to a dairy unit. The priority on a calf ranch is to keep the feeding program as simple and consistent as possible. This saves on labour and ensures fewer mistakes are likely to be made.
On dairy units, the optimal way of using Axcelera-C is to offer it ad-lib from day 4 for 3 weeks, replacing starter feed completely. And ideally, to encourage early dry matter intake to offer Axcelera-C at suckling height in weeks 1-2 – using a shallow feeding bowl.
On a calf ranch, we use Axcelera-C in a different way to make it as easy as possible. Compared to the dairy unit approach, this requires less labour and attention to detail. It uses less Axcelera-C per head (7kg) compared to a dairy unit (9kg) and still delivers excellent results.
We prefer to offer a 30% Axcelera-C blend as early as possible. As most calf ranches don’t offer grains until day 12 – then use that as the starting point for Axcelera-C. If grains are routinely offered earlier then offer the Axcelera-C blend earlier. Whatever the start time, offer the 30% blend for 30 days. Then offer 100% grains until weaning – measured at 3.3lb daily dry matter intake.
Measuring Performance
Weaning: Rather than wean on age, size or weight, let the calf’s own rate of rumen development determine when it is ready to be weaned off milk. We wean when a calf intakes 3.3lb (1.5kg) per day.
Weighing: If using weight as the measure of calf growth and performance, then to demonstrate how the rumen is contributing to the calf’s growth (and so will do for the rest of its life), we recommend weighing a minimum of 30 days after weaning. As such, we are seeing how the rumen is performing away from the direct pre-weaning influence of milk.
Increases Daily Live Weight Gain & Uniformity
Compared to a typical milk and starter feed regime, Axcelera-C is shown to raise the overall weight gain of calves, reducing the number of small calves, producing a more effective and productive herd.
This confirms again, that accelerated calves will deliver greater performance through their lifetime, compared to standard calf rearing techniques.
