🖊️ Written by Area Rep Réidín Murphy.
As the 2024 calving season commences on many farms across the country, it is essential to ensure that you have the basics in stock to assist during the busy period. Some of the items that I would recommend having in stock are calving ropes, calving jack, lube gel, armlength calving gloves, feeding bottle, iodine navel spray, Calciject, easy access to clean water (both warm & cold), paper towels, disinfectant footbath, colostrum, stomach tube, electrolytes, calf tags & tagger, infra-red lamp and a headtorch.
Preparation is key for such a busy season & many jobs that are left to the last minute are then completed under pressure & not satisfactorily. If you haven’t begun calving already, ensure that calving cameras are in full working order. Have clean disinfected calving pens & calf housing & an adequate source of fresh straw close by. A well bedded straw pen is one in which you can kneel without your knees getting damp and pens should also be free of any draughts. A clean white board for noting calf feeding rates & treatments is also important where there is more than one worker on the farm.
A calf’s first few hours are essential to establish their immunity as they are born without any. Ideally, calves should be fed colostrum from their own mother, giving them at least two to three litres within two hours of birth to maximise absorption of antibodies. If defrosting frozen colostrum, do not use water over 50°C and thaw it slowly. Using hotter water to thaw the colostrum faster risks destroying the antibodies, removing all its immunity boosting benefits. As calving time is often the busiest time on the farm, it is common for farmers to forget about their own health & welfare so, if possible, have help available to call upon when necessary.
Contact your Southern Fuel & Farm Supplies rep for any of your calving product needs this season.
Feeding the calf with the correct ration is vital to develop the calf’s digestive system.
Southern Fuel & Farm Supplies stocks all your calf feed needs, such as:
✅18% protein, 4.8% oil.
✅Highly palatable coarse starter with added vanilla and milk powder flavour which help to increase intake.
✅ Toasted ingredients to aid digestion and utilisation of protein and energy.
✅Supreme protein source, from toasted flaked full-fat soya to optimise grown rates.
✅ Includes Actigen from Alltech.
✅ Available in 25KG and bulk Bag (around 700kg)
✅ 18% protein, 3.6% oil.
✅Top quality pencil nut.
✅ Quality protein sources including hi-pro soya.
✅ Contains RumeThrive to boost intakes, reduce digestive upset and improve calf health.
✅ Fully fortified with minerals and vitamins especially Vit B which improves the health status of the calf.
✅ Available in 25kg,
✅18% protein, 3.7% oil.
✅ Quality protein sources including hi-pro soya.
✅ Contains RumeThrive to boost intakes, reduce digestive upset and improve calf health.
✅ Fully fortified with minerals and vitamins especially Vitamin B which improves the health status of the calf.
✅ Available in 25kg,
✅ 18% Protein, 3.2% oil.
✅ Packed with top quality ingredients including soya, flaked maize, peas and maize.
✅ Contains rumen specific live yeast Levucell SC for positive improvements in growth performance and health.
✅ 17% protein, 4.8% oil.
✅ Coarse feed nutritionally designed to follow on from calf starter.
✅It is formulated to ensure continual rumen development and maximise performance.
✅ Using toasted technology, the toasted flaked ingredients are nutritionally enhanced to insure the highest levels of digestibility and utilisation at energy source.
✅ A unique mineral, vitamin and trace element pack is included ensuring optimum performance.
✅ Contains Equaliser 365 which is a powerful rumen buffer that promotes rumen health and support calves during the risk period for summer scour.
✅Contains specific essential oils to help deal with high protein grass.
✅ Available in 25KG and bulk Bag (around 700kg)
Where to find us.
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