Crianza De Becerros - Calf Rearing

Second Edition

CALF
REARING
A practical guide
John Moran

CALF REARING
A practical guide
Second Edition

John Moran

Copyright © Natural Resources and Environment, Victoria, 2002
All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and
subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact LANDLINKS PRESS for all
permission requests.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Moran, John, 1945– .
Calf Rearing: A Practical Guide
Second edition
Bibliography
ISBN 0 643 06766 3
1.Calves – Australia. I. Moran, John, 1945– Calf Rearing: A Practical Guide. II. Title.
636.2070994

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Foreword
Calf rearing systems play a critical role in ensuring an ongoing productive and profitable dairy herd. Systems vary from complex, labour intensive approaches to simple ad
lib provision of milk and pasture.
Many dairy farmerscould raise additional heifers and increase the opportunities
for genetic gain in their herds or participate in other developing market opportunities.
Other dairy farmers could improve their calf rearing techniques to ensure their
replacements reach the necessary size and maturity to be useful first year players.
It is important that dairy farmers understand some of the biology of calf nutritionand development to assist making the decision on what is the most appropriate for
each farm.
This book provides farmers with the necessary information in an easy-to-read
format to understand calf biology, evaluate alternative feed resources and to develop a
full management strategy for calf rearing. The first edition, published in 1993, has now
been updated to include the latest informationon calf rearing, specifically for
Australian conditions.
This information will assist calf rearers to maximise their returns from investment
of time and cash in tomorrow’s herd.
Peter Owen
President, United Dairy Farmers of Victoria, Melbourne

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CONTENTS
Foreword

iii

About the author

x

Acknowledgments

xi

Chemical warning

xiiiChapter 1 Introduction
The principles of good calf rearing
The high costs of calf rearing
An outline of this book
Texts for further reading

Chapter 2 The principles of digestion of feed in calves
The calf digestive tract
The milk-fed calf
Rumen development and the process of weaning
The role of roughage in the weaning process

Chapter 3 The importance of colostrum to newborn calvesChanges in recommendations on colostrum feeding
Colostrum quality
Identifying and storing good quality colostrum
Feeding colostrum to newborn calves
How to stomach tube a calf
Commercial aids to calf rearing
Results from overseas research on colostrum feeding
Timeliness of colostrum feeding
Summarising good colostrum feeding management
Value-adding colostrum
Financial benefits from good...