If your answers to the above three questions are yes or perhaps even then read on...
For its March meeting the North Down Grassland Management Team went to the farm of Timothy Morrow - Streamvale near Dundonald on the outskirts of Belfast. The key feature of the visit was a chance to witness the calf rearing system in action. While the rest of the group (except Brian McCracken who is already doing this) looked on in astonishment as we witnessed Timothy feed 50 calves in about five minutes!!
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Here we can see the "suck mobile" before it goes into action. This is an ordinary 170 gallon water trough mounted on a quad trailer originally used for a fertiliser spreader. |
| Timothy simply drove the machine into the field and unhooked it from his quad. The calves started sucking right away. The sucking action meant the calves produce lots of saliva which helps aid digestion. |  |
But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let's go back to the beginning of the process....
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The important thing to note about this system is that it isn't ordinary milk that Timothy is using but a special cultured mixture. Timothy has now moved to complete spring compact calving. He bought this small second hand milk tank (just the stainless steel skeleton - no equipment is needed) from United Dairy Farmers for £100. Colostrum (the first few milkings) from freshly calved cows is pumped into this tank direct from the adjacent milking parlour by means of the swinging arm that can be seen to the left of the picture. Colostrum has naturally occurring bacteria in it which will form a culture. This mixture must be stirred regularly to keep the fermentation process going.
Ordinary milk can be added to the mixture provided that the tank is never fully emptied. However it is vitally important the antibiotic milk is NEVER added to the mixture. This milk will kill the bacteria that make the culture and the milk will go off. |
| Timothy does issue one word of warning though. This mixture does get very smelly! The tank was recently cleaned out. However as his calving season is nearly over Timothy no longer has enough colostrum to start up a new culture. So he is having to make up a new culture with natural yogurt in his hotpress.
All Timothy does then is drive his "suck mobile" under the tap and fill it up. Timothy remarks "You think you are feeding them cold milk but with the fermentation process it is surprising just how warm the milk can be". |
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Calves are first fed indoors on this training bucket. The bucket is designed so that it can be hung on a rail. Each bucket can feed seven calves (twice a day). The teats on this bucket are peach nipples. |
| Once the calves have learnt to use the teats they move onto a barrel device. This used what are known in the trade as "black teats". |  |
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These have tubes coming out the back of them which extend to the bottom of the drum. The teats are placed about three to four inches apart. Both the peach and the black teats are not commonly available and Timothy had to source these from a Southern Co-Op. |
| Once the calves are about ten days old they move outside. They are fed seven litres once a day. They will not drink this all in one go but come back to it. Timothy says "...this means that the smaller and weaker calves have a chance to get their fill".
Timothy has had no scours with this system. The bacteria in the culture help prevent this. Timothy says the only problem he has had with calves scouring was with ones who he fed antibiotic milk to. The best thing to do with this milk in the future may be to pour it down the drain! |
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