THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT MILK REPLACERS ON CALF GROWTH ECONOMY

Milk replacers are formulated to mimic the nutrient value of natural milk to ensure that adequate nutrients for the health and growth of suckling calves are provided. The use of milk replacers ensures a consistent supply of nutrients where the dam’s milk is unavailable. They are also used to mitigate the risk of disease transmission from the dam to the offspring and are formulated to provide optimal growth, increase productivity and can provide a more flexible management option to farmers. However, one of the biggest challenges is the high production and retail cost of milk replacers. The high cost of milk replacers can be attributed to the expensive, high quality raw materials needed to produce it, in addition to import costs due to an unfavourable exchange rate. Because of the cost factor, the intention of the study cited was to compare different milk replacers in terms of growth and economic efficiency. The products FP-Biomel and FP-Kalfpap contained fermented protein and Kalfpap® and FP-Kalfpap high starch. contained fermented protein and a high starch content which has a lower cost than the raw materials in conventional milk replacers, thus providing a potentially less expensive milk substitute.

Thirty-two (8 per treatment) 3-5 day old Holstein calves with an average weight of 40.8 kg were randomly assigned to one of four milk replacer treatments, namely Biomel®, FP-Biomel, Kalfpap®, and FP-Kalfpap in a 63-day growth trial. Milk replacer intake was limited to 6 L per calf per day, while starter meal was offered ad libitum, with all intakes and refusals recorded. The financial parameters calculated included total cost, average daily cost and income from the sale of calves at the end of the trial.

The results showed that all measured parameters differed between treatments. In terms of cost and average daily cost, treatment FP-Kalfpap was the most economical with the lowest average feeding cost for the trial at R2424 per calf. However, for income which is influenced by growth performance parameters (calf weight, dry matter intake), Kalfpap® and FP-Kalfpap emerged as the most cost-effective and showed the highest return.

Conclusions and recommendations: When only considering the cost of the milk replacers and the starter meal, FP-Kalfpap had the lowest cost with an average daily cost of R38.47 per calf. However, when considering income which is the best parameter to determine cost benefit of a treatment, Kalfpap® and FP-Kalfpap performed best. Although not included here, it was found that milk replacers containing fermented protein performed poorly due to high levels of trypsin inhibitor, therefore unless fermented protein is treated to reduce the trypsin inhibitor levels to lower than 4 mg/g protein, it should not be included in milk replacers for neo-natal calves. Therefore, the Kalfpap® would be the recommended milk replacer.