Milk replacer

dasheriff

What is the cheapet milk replacer out there lads and is there a quality differance between the cheaper brands and lets say maverick?.i was thinking of rearing a few calves along with the main herd but im half thinking im mad too what do ye think?.

lakill Farm

dasheriff wrote: »

What is the cheapet milk replacer out there lads and is there a quality differance between the cheaper brands and lets say maverick?.i was thinking of rearing a few calves along with the main herd but im half thinking im mad too what do ye think?.

I use volaic and its €42 or €44 a bag. I was talking to my aunt and they sell a brand for €36 a bag so ill be getting it this year. Sorry dont know the name of it. But she said the same lads buy it every year and some lads moved from Maverick to this other brand. I guess €10 a bag cheaper.

Are you mad? yes. calves are hard work, and hassle, but for me it was the cheapest way to stock my few acres. And herself loved the cute factor . Calves are expensive this year and hard to get a supplier

bbam

Last few years we've used SuperCream from Freshacres, find it every bit as good as Maverick and at only €36 a bag it's a good saving..

http://www.freshacres.ie/calf/calfsupercream/calfsupercream.htm

blue5000

Hi OP, ya maverick is dear, but some of the cheapies are based on coconut powder, try get one that is 100% whole milk powder based, you will have less scour problems, and whatever brand you start them on stick with it until they are reared.

weefarmer

I'll check in the morning but I think I was buying 20kg bag of maverick for €27.50! Not 100% sure though.

dasheriff

bbam wrote: »

Last few years we've used SuperCream from Freshacres, find it every bit as good as Maverick and at only €36 a bag it's a good saving..

http://www.freshacres.ie/calf/calfsupercream/calfsupercream.htm

Thanks bbam sounds good any idea what suppliers do that iv never come across it..

dasheriff

blue5000 wrote: »

Hi OP, ya maverick is dear, but some of the cheapies are based on coconut powder, try get one that is 100% whole milk powder based, you will have less scour problems, and whatever brand you start them on stick with it until they are reared.

Thanks blue i didnt realise that definately something to look out for the less scour the better..;)

sh1tstirrer

weefarmer wrote: »

I'll check in the morning but I think I was buying 20kg bag of maverick for €27.50! Not 100% sure though.

What year was that? 2002

weefarmer

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

weefarmer wrote: »

I'll check in the morning but I think I was buying 20kg bag of maverick for €27.50! Not 100% sure though.

What year was that? 2002

Maverick €35 and volac is €32

lakill Farm

weefarmer wrote: »

Maverick €35 and volac is €32

Weefarmer, are they the prices for this year as in 2011? :eek:

Can i ask for the name of the merchant you but this off please .

weefarmer

lakill Farm wrote: »

weefarmer wrote: »

Maverick €35 and volac is €32

Weefarmer, are they the prices for this year as in 2011? :eek:

Can i ask for the name of the merchant you but this off please .

Got them in my local store here think its just a one off shop, i've sent you the details in PM.
That was the price back in April time anyway!

lakill Farm

weefarmer wrote: »

Got them in my local store here think its just a one off shop, i've sent you the details in PM.
That was the price back in April time anyway!

Fair play Weefarmer. i am going to work out how replacer i need and ask afew local lads also and ill order a pallet.

you wout mind but Volaic make there stuff in cavan and its only down the road :rolleyes:.

Does the local hardware think im a fool

Tipp Man

Lads ye wouldn't think of approaching local dairy farmers and trying to buy fresh milk from them?

Plenty of them glad to be paid anything for it this year with the quota situation.

Our calves did a lot better since we moved away from the milk replacer

Or is that too much hastle?

dasheriff

Tipp Man wrote: »

Lads ye wouldn't think of approaching local dairy farmers and trying to buy fresh milk from them?

Plenty of them glad to be paid anything for it this year with the quota situation.

Our calves did a lot better since we moved away from the milk replacer

Or is that too much hastle?

Its a good idea alright tippman but it would be alot of hassle the closest dairy farm to me is a few miles away..
Do you mind me asking do you rare bought in calves aswell and how do you find it profit wise??

lakill Farm

i had thought of that alright, "buying raw milk off a farmer" my uncle supplies but does milk in January so that fecks me up.

But a few questions.

Does the farmer put the milk into the tank and chill it?or put into the creamery cans?
Did you get the milk twice a day or once and heat the milk up the 2nd time?
What price would be going rate for milk off farmer for feeding purposes?

At minute milk is about 35c ltr. A calf has approx 2 lites twice a day so €1.40

Volic €42 does 10 calves 5.5 days feeding or 110 calf feeds or €0.76 a day

(both cases talk that the milk is cold and both will need heating)

Did you find you weight gain was improved?
General health?
Could you wean them sooner?
Did they eat same amount of crunch and hay?

bbam

Tipp Man wrote: »

.

Or is that too much hastle?

I think so...
Last spring I was up at 5:30 to feed the calves and hit the road for work...
I don't see how a raw milk system would work for me really..

In addition, calves fed raw milk for 10 weeks will compare little different to calves fed milk replacer for 10 weeks.. The biggest difference is when the raw milk is fed for much longer because of its availability on farm... Where feeding milk replacer for longer makes little difference...

funny man

bbam wrote: »

I think so...
Last spring I was up at 5:30 to feed the calves and hit the road for work...
I don't see how a raw milk system would work for me really..

In addition, calves fed raw milk for 10 weeks will compare little different to calves fed milk replacer for 10 weeks.. The biggest difference is when the raw milk is fed for much longer because of its availability on farm... Where feeding milk replacer for longer makes little difference...

Not a bad suggestion Tipp man if you are in the southern half of the country as whole milk will have a nominal value as guys try to reduce supplies. If you can source a dairy farmer who is over quota you could get him to fill one of them 1000litre plastic containers and collect it in the evening make some yougurt milk and it will last you for the week.

aristo

funny man wrote: »

Not a bad suggestion Tipp man if you are in the southern half of the country as whole milk will have a nominal value as guys try to reduce supplies. If you can source a dairy farmer who is over quota you could get him to fill one of them 1000litre plastic containers and collect it in the evening make some yougurt milk and it will last you for the week.

Whats the procedure for making yogurt milk? Is the only benefit that it last a few days? surely calves getting cold milk which is almost a week old isnt great for them?
Thanks.

epfff

aristo wrote: »

funny man wrote: »

Not a bad suggestion Tipp man if you are in the southern half of the country as whole milk will have a nominal value as guys try to reduce supplies. If you can source a dairy farmer who is over quota you could get him to fill one of them 1000litre plastic containers and collect it in the evening make some yougurt milk and it will last you for the week.

Whats the procedure for making yogurt milk? Is the only benefit that it last a few days? surely calves getting cold milk which is almost a week old isnt great for them?
Thanks.

Never heat water for milk replacer any more.seen niece getting bottles from cold so said calves are no different.found makes no differance only thing is same time every day

Good loser

epfff wrote: »

Never heat water for milk replacer any more.seen niece getting bottles from cold so said calves are no different.found makes no differance only thing is same time every day

Does the water not need to be heated to mix the replacer properly?

funny man

Feeding calves yoghurt-treated milk has become fashionable in the past few years. The practice is still confined to a minority, although the numbers are increasing and will continue to increase over the next few years.
Adding yoghurt, you are directly adding lactic acid bacteria to the calf's stomach.
I have read about different methods for making up yoghurt milk, all of which appear to be successful. Richard Fallon of Grange recommends the following method:
1. Add 3 bottles of Actimel natural yoghurt (?2.19 per 4 pack) to 2 pints of warm milk. Store in a flask and stand for 12hrs. The idea of the flask is to keep the milk as warm as long as possible. The bacteria multiply faster when the milk is warm.
2. Empty the contents of the flash into 3 gals of warm milk and keep for 24hrs. Ideally, this should be kept warm overnight, i.e. in the hot press if you can get away with it or near a solid fuel cooker/boiler house. At the end of this period, the milk should have a thick consistency. The pH will be under 5 and the milk will be slightly sour.
3. Now take the 3 gals and add it to 40 gals of warm milk and leave overnight. The product is now ready for feeding the next morning. The yoghurt milk should have a thick consistency if you have been successful in making up the culture.
When you feed the calves the next morning, always leave 3-4 gallons of yoghurt milk in the bottom of the container. This is approximately 10pc of the total amount of milk in the barrel. This is your starter for the next feed and the next one after that.
The beauty of this system is that there is no need to wash buckets or containers after the calves have used them. This will speed up the whole business of feeding the calves. Yoghurt milk is a live culture and it will not deteriorate.
Do you ever need to wash anything again? The answer is yes. At the end of 3-4 weeks, make up a new culture and start the whole system again. One word of caution, don't add milk containing antibiotics to the culture. It will completely destroy it.

Farming indo 2005.

sh1tstirrer

Isn't buying milk from a farmer to feed calves illegal? Also trying to make yogurt milk from milk that was purchased from another farmer won't work because he will sell you milk from cows treated with antibiotics. You could also end up buying added water.

cam1452

anyone using alpuro milk replacer. see wicklow cattle company suppling it 2euro a kg.

funny man

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Isn't buying milk from a farmer to feed calves illegal? Also trying to make yogurt milk from milk that was purchased from another farmer won't work because he will sell you milk from cows treated with antibiotics. You could also end up buying added water.

It may be illegal but so is smoking hash and that didn't stop ming. Fcuk sake lad not all of us dairy farmers are crooks. Most dairy farmers are helpful and wouldn't try to ruin milk and expect someone to come back for more.

Tom C

hey i know i bought it at 35 euro volac and dowland fresh start milk replacer 20kg bag at 35 euro per bag . made a deal on a pallet of 33 euro a bag
great value . Also bought a pallet of the calf crunch pedigree 3 stewarda meal at 7.50 a bag great value . very good crunch

lakill Farm

So calf rearing season is flat out now so i have the following queries.

What milk replacer did you use?
What price was it for a 20kg bag?
what crunch did you use and price per 25kg bag?

last 2 years i used volac 20kg milk replacer at €44 per bag and corby rock crunch at €10.25 per 25kg

This year i used freshacres milk replacer at €36 per 20kg and used stewards crunch at €10.90 per 25kg (a very high molasses content concared to corby and calves seemed to take to eating it earlier)

Talking to a farmer client yesterday, said for years he buys calves off a dealer and buys dutch milk replacer and this year its €32 for 20kg. Never had a problem and he rears the 10 calves into replacement sucker cows.

Chiliroses

Talking to a farmer client yesterday, said for years he buys calves off a dealer and buys dutch milk replacer and this year its €32 for 20kg. Never had a problem and he rears the 10 calves into replacement sucker cows.[/QUOTE]

Hi Lakill

I wonder would that be Milkivit? Theres a company up north called Trouw Nutrition http://www.trouwnutrition.co.uk/displaypage.asp?page_key=24 not sure how much it is though but they deliver to companies down south.

20silkcut

Chiliroses wrote: »

Talking to a farmer client yesterday, said for years he buys calves off a dealer and buys dutch milk replacer and this year its €32 for 20kg. Never had a problem and he rears the 10 calves into replacement sucker cows.

Hi Lakill

I wonder would that be Milkivit? Theres a company up north called Trouw Nutrition http://www.trouwnutrition.co.uk/displaypage.asp?page_key=24 not sure how much it is though but they deliver to companies down south.[/Quote]

I bought a bag of that stuff off a calf dealer this year during paddys weekend when the creameries were closed. I thought it was absolute ****e snd had a sour smell and it gave the calves a dose of scutter.

charityboy

used that dutch sh..e last year ,sour smell calves swelling up hard to mix and more powder per litre than volac ,changed over to volac this year and it was lashed in to them when they got going on it and got no scours in any of them ,never reared calves as handy,i will be sticking with volac reguardless of it being a few euro more than the cheap stuff as treating calves for scours is not cheap

Damo8100

lakill Farm wrote: »

So calf rearing season is flat out now so i have the following queries.

What milk replacer did you use?
What price was it for a 20kg bag?
what crunch did you use and price per 25kg bag?

Maverick
€44 I think it was..
Calf Muesli, €11.30 a bag, expensive but it's great stuff.

bogman_bass

you have to ask yourself, if the vremerys can buy the milk, process it, package it, advertise it in the journal and sell it back to the farmer at half the price then what are they taking out of it?

At the end of the day milk replacer is just that, a replacemen,t and will never be as good as the real thing (if you can get it)

PatQfarmer

lakill Farm wrote: »

So calf rearing season is flat out now so i have the following queries.

What milk replacer did you use?
What price was it for a 20kg bag?
what crunch did you use and price per 25kg bag?

last 2 years i used volac 20kg milk replacer at €44 per bag and corby rock crunch at €10.25 per 25kg

This year i used freshacres milk replacer at €36 per 20kg and used stewards crunch at €10.90 per 25kg (a very high molasses content concared to corby and calves seemed to take to eating it earlier)

Talking to a farmer client yesterday, said for years he buys calves off a dealer and buys dutch milk replacer and this year its €32 for 20kg. Never had a problem and he rears the 10 calves into replacement sucker cows.

Volac €43-44 per bag depending on supplier.
Gain Startacalf €10.50 per bag

Chiliroses

20silkcut wrote: »

Hi Lakill

I wonder would that be Milkivit? Theres a company up north called Trouw Nutrition http://www.trouwnutrition.co.uk/displaypage.asp?page_key=24 not sure how much it is though but they deliver to companies down south.

I bought a bag of that stuff off a calf dealer this year during paddys weekend when the creameries were closed. I thought it was absolute ****e snd had a sour smell and it gave the calves a dose of scutter.[/QUOTE]

Thing is though, it takes a calfs digestive system a while to get used to a new product, you couldn't really justify it on one bag.