In order to grow a quality healthy livestock, a farmer needs to adhere to generally accepted growing standards. The calves are weak at birth, so they need all the necessary components to get stronger. An important diet is that contains all the necessary foods and vitamins. Proper feeding of the calf leads to its intensive growth and harmonious development. You only need to know how to properly compose a diet.
Food basis
It should be taken into account that due to the balanced diet of cows during dead wood before calving, healthy and strong calves are born. Feeding of monthly calves is especially important. Since animals with appearance are sterile and susceptible to different viruses, bacteria, you need to properly care for them. Since birth, gamma globulins appear in the body as a defense.
Feeding a calf from birth is different from feeding cows. The first product that is given to the animal after calving should be colostrum. It contains vitamins A and D, important for the baby, which are necessary for the proper growth and full development of newborns. Nutrition should include foods that allow the animal to grow and strengthen.
Dairy
For 3 days after calving, newborn calves are fed with colostrum 6 times a day, then the calf needs to be weaned from the mother and they are given 2 liters of milk 3 times a day in the dispensary until 20 days old. Feeding a calf for up to a month involves the introduction of skim milk, boiled concentrates and carrots.
Fattening of monthly animals involves the introduction of different feeds into the diet. With the strengthening of the digestive tract, the daily menu consists not only of milk, but also of silage. When it is 5 months old, 2 kg of concentrated feed per day is introduced into the diet, and from 6 months, portions are cut.
Milk substitutes
Other products are important for the animal. Useful substitutes for whole milk. In their preparation, barley, peas, and wheat are used. Extruded cereals include many beneficial ingredients. The use of milk replacer helps protect the baby from diseases that can be transmitted from the cow after calving.
Vitamin mixtures saturate the body with the necessary components, which are not fully available in mother's milk. From the moment of birth, the calves are fed milk, with which the animal receives 9.5 kg of milk fat. This is very important for heifers, who in the future will also need to reproduce offspring.
When the calf has difficulties with digestion, the milk replacer is removed from his diet. But it will be useful decoction of flax, tea with glucose, decoctions of herbs. From a month you can safely give carrots, potatoes and other root crops.
Vitamins
The calf needs products that include natural vitamins, which is especially important in winter and spring. Vitamin preparations are also used. The main cause of animal diseases is the lack of carotene, which occurs when feeding with colostrum and milk. To prevent this, in the first feeding, add 5 drops of Trivitamin (A, D 3 , E), as well as 30 g of glucose and 0.5 g of ascorbic acid to colostrum.
To strengthen the body, fish oil, fodder yeast and other vitamin complexes are suitable. It must be borne in mind that the intake of vitamins A and D 3 is 300 and 50 IU per gram of animal weight. Feeding rates for calves in summer are significantly lower compared to the cold period.
Now there are many dietary supplements that are sold in specialized stores. For example, Kostovit forte contains the necessary minerals and vitamins. An indispensable natural vitamin carotene is grated carrots, which provide babies up to a month. You also need to remember about mineral dressing, which consists of chalk with salt. To improve the metabolism of young animals, Bacitrin and Grisin preparations are necessary.
Cereal nutrition
It is known that feeding calves with grain concentrates is necessary to accelerate the development of the scar. Dry food is needed for the normal operation of the digestive tract. Thanks to whole grain, corn, and oats, chewing muscles are strengthened. Therefore, these products must be included in the diet regularly.
When the calf leaves the dairy period, he is given oats, corn, soy flour, flaxseed, dried corn bard. Wheat bran and molasses are useful. Feeding the calves should include muesli, which reduces the period of young animals' milking, and is also necessary for the absorption of concentrates and roughage. They serve to prevent gastrointestinal diseases, improve health.
Drink
The period up to a month when young growth is growing is considered the most difficult for farmers. It is necessary to water the baby with colostrum about 6 times a day. It is important to exclude overfeeding. Animals after maternal feeding should be fed milk from a special nipple. Such a drink is useful if the necessary sanitary and hygienic rules are followed.
After a few days, the calf must be accustomed to drinking from a bucket. To do this, they put a bucket where milk is poured into which you need to dip your finger, and let the baby lick it. Then the animal's face should be tilted to the bucket. If the calf drinks milk quickly, then it should be watered at intervals.
Milk and colostrum should be given to animals in pairs. The smaller the gap between milking and watering, the fewer germs in the product. After drinking, the bucket should be washed with water, then scalded with boiling water and treated with a soda solution. When the calf is 3 days old, an hour before feeding, he is given cooled water. If there is adequate feeding of the calf, the farmer will grow a strong and healthy livestock of young animals.
Diet
Specialists recommend a special diet for feeding calves. It consists of colostrum, dairy and post-dairy periods. Colostrum should be given to newborn animals, as this product is enriched with vitamins. Per day it is given in the amount of 1/5 of the weight. An hour after feeding the baby is given water.
Useful hay infusion. After 10 days, the calves are fed with hay, and from the 15-20th day, concentrated and succulent feeds. The daily diet should include feeding from chalk, bone meal, salt. In the milk replacer, which is given after colostrum and skim milk, many different components are included.
There are special feeding schemes for young animals, given its purpose. Products should be given to the animal depending on its age, and then it will be in good health. For the correct calculation of the daily diet, you need to take into account data per 100 kg of weight. This allows you to provide a balanced diet, which is necessary for good health.
Digestion
The amount of milk that needs to be given to the calf is regulated on the basis of weaning it from the mother. This allows you to reduce stress on the cow and reduce the risk of harm to the baby. Due to the consumption of the product, saliva is produced from the nipple in animals. And this increases the production of enzymes necessary for high-quality digestion.
In a newborn calf, the stomach includes 4 sections, although in the beginning only one of them works - the abomasum. Liquid products pass into it through a tube obtained by closing the esophageal gutter. Reflex weakens due to the growth of the animal.
For 4 weeks, milk protein is considered the best digestible substance that comes with liquid feed. These include vegetable, dairy, animal fats, sugars. Mineral components and vitamins are well absorbed.
Pet hygiene
With the birth, the calf must adapt to various external factors. For 2 weeks, he needs to help adapt. The respiratory tract, digestive system and umbilical cord are sensitive some time after birth. Therefore, it is important to ensure pet hygiene.
The calving area is considered the most dangerous, where the calf can pass the infection, so it must be well disinfected. For summer calving, you can choose a lawn, and in winter - a room. The cattleman must be at the appearance of the baby, as well as some time after that. Do not touch the calf if your hands are not treated with a disinfectant solution.
The animal must be transferred to a clean film. They clean it from mucus with a clean cloth. Microorganisms act on the umbilical cord, so it is treated with 5% iodine. Pet hygiene is also needed in feeding calves.
Care
The calf is not adapted to temperature changes and humidity. During this period, thermoregulation still does not work as expected. Therefore, due to hypothermia and overheating, the body's resistance decreases. The animal is transferred to a dispensary, and in the cold it is dried with an infrared lamp. This room should have a comfortable temperature and humidity.
The dispensary creates an environment where the risk of penetration into the lungs of microorganisms is minimal. Thanks to the control of temperature and humidity, calves become strong. It is necessary to regularly check calves for diseases, which will allow them to be detected and eliminated on time.
Animals with inappropriate care develop many diseases. The reasons for this may be different factors. Often, diseases arise due to stress, the penetration of bacteria and viruses. To prevent this, pet hygiene is observed. Often animals will be prevented from entering the quarantine zone, into which only specialists who take the necessary measures to eliminate infections have access.
Thus, growing strong calves is the main problem of dairy cattle breeding. Many of them die from diseases or inappropriate growing conditions. The reasons for which ailments appear include improper maintenance, feeding, hygiene. Thanks to proper care and diet, healthy calves can be raised. If all the rules are followed, you will not have to use expensive medications.