Transition milk proves key to producing healthy and top performing calves 

The importance of feeding calves the right nutrition, including transition milk, was thrown into sharp focus on a North Cork dairy farm after a TB breakdown in the herd.

Mary and Denis O’Mahony milk 74 Holstein-cross cows in Donaghmore with their son, John, and daughters, Rosemary and Catherine.

Producing healthy calves is a priority for multiple reasons, including time constraints as John works off-farm and Rosemary and Catherine have limited time to help on the farm.In 2020 the business invested in a computer feeder.

Mary, who leads on the calf rearing, chose Transformula as the calf milk replacer to feed in conjunction with this machine.

She was conscious transition milk, Transformula included, is key to producing healthy and top performing calves, especially when they are machine fed from a young age.

Transition milk is the milk a cow produces after colostrum and it helps the calf develop its digestive system.

This process goes through multiple stages — even the digestion of milk takes four weeks to get fully established, says Joe Murphy of Bonanza Calf Nutrition, which manufactures Transformula.

“The calf’s gut has a key role in the calf’s immune system and transition milk is the main driver as well,’’ he says.

Trial work comparing calves reared on transition milk for just 10 days to those fed whole milk demonstrates big advantages in calf growth and health.

Bonanza Calf Nutrition started working on transition milk replacers 10 years ago to offer farmers a method of providing transition milk that wasn’t vulnerable to the disease issues sometimes associated with feeding cow transition milk while offering an effective way to give this important feed to their calves.

Recent trial work in France and the UK showed that calf growth and health improved by up to 33% when calves were fed Transformula rather than good quality milk replacers.

Heifer replacements fed Transformula for as little as the first ten days produced 947 litres more milk and 85kg of additional butterfat and protein in their first lactation compared to the control groups.

The O’Mahonys start their calves on the computer feeder when they are 10 days old.

Their feed plan rises from five to six litres over 10 days and remains at six litres for 42 days before reducing to two litres over a 10-day period. Milk solid level is consistently 12.5% throughout that period.

Since introducing Transformula, Mary reports that calves are consistently healthy and have excellent growth rates.

All in-calf replacement heifers achieve their growth rate target to achieve first calving at two years.

In 2021 and 2022, beef calves achieved daily growth rate gains of 0.95-0.98kg/head from birth to mid-August.

The following year, a bovine TB herd breakdown meant the O’Mahonys could not continue to sell their beef steers and heifers as stores so they instead fattened these.

The excellent start these animals had in life, with Transformula in their feed plan, paid off as by Christmas 2023 every beef animal had been sold having achieved slaughter weights of 300-360kg at 19-22 months.

“With calf health and lifetime performance almost guaranteed with Transformula, I am delighted to stick with a product that works for our stock,’’ says Mary.

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