A focus on calf health and nutrition is paying dividends for first generation Eden dairy farmers Lis and Matt Stephenson.
The couple milk almost 900 Holstein cows on the 1,000-acre tenanted Winter Tarn Farm at Crosby Ravensworth. The cattle are milked three times a day, with the cows yielding 14,000 litres and heifers 10,000 litres at 4.2 per cent butterfat and 3.5 per cent protein.
The Stephensons started out with 70 cows when they took on the farm tenancy in 2015 and they have grown the herd, and business, to its current size following a series of strategic investments over the past 10 years.
These investments — made possible by support from the Let’s Farm Foundation and Oxbury Bank — have included the erection of new cubicle sheds, a four million litre slurry lagoon, new state-of-the-art 54-point Waikato milking parlour and, most recently, new calf housing.
The Stephensons operate three calf sheds — the first was built five years ago and the other two were more recently completed — which provide enough space to house more than 200 calves at any one time, as the herd is calving all year round.
Designed to maximise calf health and welfare, the sheds feature open fronts, Yorkshire boarding on the sides and back for optimal ventilation, excellent drainage and at least five square metres of space per calf.
“Calf health and welfare is paramount because if a calf has a health setback, they don’t always catch up,” said Lis. “It can make them more prone to bullying if they are smaller and can delay first service and age at first calving.
“We’re taking steps to prevent this because we want our calves to be fit and thriving, so they can perform well in the herd.”
While upgrading their calf housing, the Stephensons carried out a lot of research and visited several farms — both in the UK and USA — to learn about best practice calf care.
This included a visit to a 12,000-cow unit in Wisconsin where calves wear jackets year-round — an idea the Stephensons have adapted, with all calves now wearing a jacket from birth until they outgrow them at about five to six weeks old in the colder months.
“Calves are better equipped to use their energy to grow and thrive when they don’t have to channel their energy into keeping warm,” said Lis.
She says they also worked with the Carr’s Billington youngstock specialist, Lucy Shaw, to fine tune management and nutrition. “We have used a range of milk replacer products from different manufacturers over the years, with mixed results,” said Lis.
“Lucy took me to a talk on milk powders and energy levels where they explained that if you were feeding a high quality milk powder, you could increase the amount fed. I tried this with the product I was using, but the calves developed scours; Lucy advised me to check the product ingredients and it turned out to contain vegetable proteins rather than milk proteins.”
The Stephensons have since switched to feeding Vitality milk replacer from Carr’s Billington — a 50 per cent skimmed milk replacer made up of 100 per cent dairy protein and digestible fats.
“Calves have just performed better on this milk — they have more shine and seem more resilient,” said Lis. “The calves have a very playful nature which shows that their energy needs are being met, which I think also helps make them more resilient to stave off any bugs.”
She says raising healthy calves is based on four key pillars — good colostrum management, vaccination, correct housing and stringent hygiene standards.
As a result, a vacuum line has been installed in the maternity pen to allow cows to be milked immediately after calving and calves receive four litres of colostrum in the first hour of life.
The farm’s vaccination programme includes vaccinating dry cows with a Rotavec Corona vaccine to protect the calf from diarrhoea caused by rotavirus, coronavirus, and E. coli, and calves are vaccinated for pneumonia at five days old, five weeks old and again at weaning at 10-11 weeks old.
In addition to the new housing, the Stephensons also pay close attention to hygiene and take steps to ensure calving pens are clean, while extra drains in the calf pens help keep the straw dry.
