EggTek-C Helps Sale-Yard Calves Bounce Back in Just Six Days

Each autumn, Waikato dairy farmers Jason and Rowan Turner purchase calves to rear as part of an off-season project.

This year, the Turners bought 94 Friesian bull calves from the sale yards and brought them home to raise through to 100kg using their Holm & Laue automated calf feeder (the CalfExpert).

While the Turners have used the Queen of Calves nutrition programme for years to achieve strong daily liveweight gains, buying calves from multiple sources at the sale yards can come with its challenges.

"You often inherit a mix of health issues,” says Jason. “It didn’t take long before about 30 of them began showing signs of poor appetite and low energy."

Despite having a solid support system in place, the Turners knew they needed something extra to keep these calves on track.

The Turners added Bell-Booth EggTek-C to their routine alongside electrolytes and manual milk feeding in hospital pens.

“From the time we identified the calves as unwell to when they were back on a full milk diet, it was just six days - and EggTek-C played a big part in that recovery.”

Using data from the Holm & Laue system, the Turners tracked the return to appetite and milk intake. Once calves were back to expected feeding levels, they discontinued EggTek-C - but the gains held. The bulls still weaned at 100kg liveweight. They had only two losses out of 94 animals which is a strong result for any autumn rearing project.

For the coming spring, the Turners plan to dose EggTek-C via the CalfExpert from day one of the calf’s life for two weeks to build immunity in their replacement heifers.