We feel that by working with Advanced Nutrition, they are always looking at the bigger picture. They help us to plan ahead as well as keeping the Jersey herd running day-to-day. New ideas on management of the herd are always coming from Advanced Nutrition.
Building a robust and resilient herd naturally
Our Heifer Rearing Manager at Advanced Ruminant Nutrition, discusses how building immunity through natural supplementation, in the heifer rearing phase, can improve animal health and daily live weight gain.
Producing a healthy herd begins long before cows enter the milking parlour - it starts with heifer rearing. Julia comments, “Heifer performance and longevity has a huge impact on the overall profitability of a farm business. Animal health is at the core of our heifer rearing programme, and we’re passionate about helping farms maximise return on investment in this area.”
“The early stages of a calf’s life are crucial. Born with undeveloped immune systems, calves are highly susceptible to infection and disease, relying heavily on our intervention in the form of management and nutrition. To promote optimal health and development, while strengthening our calves’ ability to withstand environmental and pathogenic challenges, we must foster their natural resilience. Producing healthier, stronger heifers allows us to maximise lifetime performance, improve longevity, and reduce the need for medical intervention, including antibiotics.”
A Holistic Approach to Herd Resilience
Attention to detail is crucial in heifer rearing. “We adopt a holistic approach, addressing not just nutrition but also calf health, environment, and management strategies to ensure long-term success,” explains Julia. “We understand that every herd is different, and so our in-depth reports are based on data-driven insights from your own business. The analysis doesn’t solely focus on calf data, we also examine factors within the milking herd that may impact rearing, helping us to identify and mitigate any risks, early on.”
Strengthening Immunity from the Start
A calf’s ability to build strong immunity starts with colostrum management, followed by quality nutrition, accurate management, and optimal housing conditions. Julia comments, “We prioritise early-life interventions that enhance natural defences, leading to stronger, healthier animals.”
One recent innovation in our heifer rearing programme is the incorporation of prebiotics and essential oils. Over the past eighteen months, we have seen significant improvements in digestive and respiratory health, reinforcing our commitment to natural supplementation over reliance on medication.
A key natural ingredient that we’ve been using supports calf health by:
- Stimulating antibacterial and antifungal action
- Reducing coughing and supporting mucus secretion
- Minimising excess fluid on the lungs
- Promoting a faster immune response
Results on Farm
A Scottish herd has successfully transitioned youngstock from long-term antibiotic usage, to a natural approach - all while maintaining a high health status. The farm milks 627 Holsteins, rearing 454 replacements, running an all year-round calving system. Julia works closely with the farm team and vet. In August 2023, things came to a head. The calves were struggling with clinical signs of Coccidiosis. Despite the team’s efforts to mitigate these issues, using a drench and medicated feed, the calves continued to lose condition post-weaning, with scours and pneumonia persisting. “Before making any nutritional changes, we analysed the whole rearing system and the farm’s data to gain
a broader perspective on immunity,” explains Julia.
Julia introduced changes to the colostrum feeding and handling process, ensuring all staff followed a consistent approach. This was to guarantee that each calf received the required antibodies, supplementing maternal colostrum where needed. “Working alongside the farm team and vet, we began blood testing to monitor passive transfer, tracking any fluctuations over time and identifying individual calves that may have needed extra attention,” explains Julia.
“We also continued to look at faecal scores for the post-weaned animals, after changes to nutrition were made, to ensure we were achieving the desired results.”
Initially, Julia changed the colostrum protocols and pre-weaned diet, to improve health and performance, but shortly after communication with the vet and farm owner about the current medicated feed, the calves were swapped onto a high-energy, high-starch nut containing our natural supplement. “By establishing clear protocols and ensuring consistent communication across the entire team, we created a foundation of stability and continuity. This allowed us to seamlessly implement a natural approach that could be repeated daily, delivering measurable results.”
Results of a natural approach
- Improved faecal scores
- DLWG pre-weaning increased by 300g/day equivalent to a saving of £40 per calf
- Antimicrobial drench usage reduced by 60%
- Over £7K per year saved on concentrate
- Maintained a high health status
Improved Daily Live Weight Gains When Changing from a Medicated Feed to a Naturally Supplemented Nut for a Unit in Lancashire
In February 2024, Julia began working with a family run farm, who milk 250 Holstein cows and operate an all year-round calving system. The calves were struggling with common issues such as scours and pneumonia, and growth rates indicated that the existing approach wasn’t working. “While the calves were being properly weighed and monitored, having looked at the data, we knew improvements in DLWG could be made,” explains Julia. “We began with making changes to colostrum management, enhancing maternal colostrum where necessary, and the pre-weaned diet. Having seen it improve calf immunity on other farms, we then moved the client over to our supplemented nut in August. Growth rates began to improve, and in November, we put the natural blend into the milk powder too.” We can visibly see they are happier, healthier and fitter – bouncing round the pen!
The latest results demonstrate clearly that calf health and performance has improved.
“Following the changes, we saw a much improved growth report, with their average sitting at a very impressive 1.01kg/day, pushing the average for the year up to 0.813kg/day.” Emily Hallett, LLM Farm Vets.
This essential oil and prebiotic supplement is part of our on-farm strategy, using natural supplementation to enhance animal health. When integrated into our whole-farm approach, which considers both the calf’s environment and nutrition, it helps to reduce reliance on medication while improving daily live weight gain (DLWG) and future productivity. “We’re not looking to fight fires. Instead, we aim to support calves through their environmental and nutritional challenges, providing them with a natural way to strengthen immunity,” concludes Julia.
Table 1: Shows the target growth rate of 800g with an average DLWG improving in February with the introduction of new protocols, feeding regimes, and natural supplements.
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