It's all about productivity on the dairy farm – and getting more milk for the same amount of feed is an important skill.
One of the most important areas of productivity is weaning calves off milk and onto grass.
Young heifers need the right nutrition to thrive and reach full potential. Milk is essential for young cows but, as we all know, milk is expensive so it's important to move them to solid food as soon as practicable.
Dr Ken Greaney is a ruminant nutritionist with AB Vista. He says that when considering the health of young heifers, it's vital to ensure they are fully fed and totally free from infection – and have the right food regime in place.
"Like us, calves don't grow correctly if they don't get correct ingredients in their diet. They need to be fed good milk and good meal as they grow older and develop from pre-ruminant to ruminant stage.
"We are effectively trying to tickle that rumen so it can grow out fully so, once the calves are weaned, they correctly digest and metabolise the grass that they are eating."
Converting calves from milk to pasture can be aided by supplementation such as the Agrifeeds Grower range, as this supports the conversion to grass very quickly and effectively.
Greaney says farmers are well advised to choose a calf feed with high energy content and protein: "Go for as a high protein content as possible. The protein in the Agrifeed Grower range is sourced from whey powder, something the cows are used to eating so it won't affect the digestive system.
"Getting that protein as high as possible is key to growing out the calves and onto a grass diet."
Both the Grower 16 and 20 products feature Vistacell, a live yeast that can be metabolised efficiently. This means that most of the oxygen is removed from the rumen, allowing the rumen microbes to develop as quickly and efficiently as possible.
"We are looking for a high content fibre-digesting bacteria, and a low concentration of lactate-producing bacteria," says Greaney.
"Lactate is an acid so if there is a low content of lactate-producing microbes that means the PH in the rumen will be higher, removing potential incidence of rumen acidosis."
Agrifeed's Vistacell supplies more live yeast cells than other products on the market and is extremely cost-effective.
As it maximises the efficiency of the rumen, it also increases the productivity of the dairy herd by enabling a greater amount of milk to be extracted for the same amount of feed.
Young heifers can be fed Agrifeeds Grower 20 (containing Vistacell) while they are still on milk to stimulate rumen growth. Once calves have been weaned and weigh over 70kg, they can move to Grower 16, which has a 16 per cent protein level.
As well as the live yeast content, this supplementary feed will help maintain growth weights; it contains molasses and other sweeteners that calves love to eat.