'I have really healthy calves. I haven’t seen Crypto in a good number of years'
February Patrick Max 1st, He Calf 300 Kilos Calf On Weaning Heavier, His Thanks Heifers About O’connor Are Farmer Dairy Weighing Alpha A Definitely Says To Feeding
Dairy cattle enjoy a better immune system, better feed conversion and better weight gain throughout their lives when they achieve better gut health as calves.
Of course, farmers know that achieving good gut health and establishing good weight gain patterns in calves isn't easy and can be very time-consuming. With the expansion of the dairy herd in recent years, calf rearing has become more of a time challenge than ever on many farms, particularly scouring.
The mixing of cows and heifers from different herds has led to a range of viruses and scours showing up on many farms around the country. The use of vaccines has helped to control many viruses within these herds when used correctly.
One type of scour for which there is no vaccine is Cryptosporidium, this is caused by a parasite that lives in the environment and is very difficult to control even with the proper disinfectants.
Calves can ingest this parasite and are affected usually in the first 5 to 7 days of life, but can be infected anytime within the first 35 days. This scour can lead to rapid dehydration and death within a couple of days. The range of products available to fight this scour up to now has been very limited.
Thankfully, an Irish company based in UCD Nova called Auranta developed Alpha Calf Max, a product that has been very successful in preventing Cryptosporidium from causing scour and doing damage to the guts of calves.
Dairy farmer Patrick O'Connor thanks Alpha Calf Max for the good health of his 200-strong herd on his farm in Limerick. He says his weaning heifers are definitely heavier, weighing about 300 kilos on February 1st.
“Overall they are healthier animals, they are the best they've ever been,” said Patrick. “The herd has very few cases of scour, nothing major. I needed little intervention. With a big herd, you want to minimise the trouble.
“If I can get a calf out alive, they are all still alive at 28 days. Very rarely do I lose a calf, when I get them out alive. I haven’t seen Crypto in a good number of years. I do have good shiny calves, with a bright colour on them, just really healthy calves.”
As well as stopping Crypto, it also helps prevent a range of other scours and stomach problems in young calves. Given to calves after the first feed of colostrum and added to milk or milk-replacer every day calves have shown 15% extra weight gain in 30 days.
Auranta led scientific trials out in UCD, Hillsborough and other universities across Europe over a number of years. All of the on-farm trial work was carried out by Cleanline Farm Services Ltd in Tipperary town.
“In the last couple of years, there has been a massive increase in the number of cows on dairy farms,” said Joe Hayes of Cleanline Farm Services. “With the demands of calf-rearing, any product that will help you enhance calf health is invaluable.
“In dairy, everything has just gotten much busier now at farm level. Giving the calves Alpha Calf Max has meant that farmers don't have to treat and vet their animals on a daily basis.
“It has enhanced their gut health, their feed conversion and boosted their weight gain. Those benefits stay with the animal throughout their life. That is the big difference between this product and anything else out there in the market.”
A better immune system and better feed conversion due to longer villi has been shown to stay with the animal right through its life. Farmers are seeing heavier calves at weaning, stronger heifers reaching target weight more easily and very strong heifers calving down, bullocks also are easier to finish.
Tim Crotty milks 120 cows in Tipperary. Tim said: “The sooner I give AlphaCalf to the calf after being born, the better it works. I have found the calves are thriving better, and I have no issues with bad scour.
“The calves don’t go downhill. I didn’t have to treat calves in the last 2 to 3 years since I started to use AlphaCalf. With AlphaCalf they kick and keep going. I didn’t have to use scour powder for the last 2 years.
“I have found in the last 2 years that my replacement heifers are coming in 40 – 50 kilos heavier. Sometime in December, they were weighing 470–530 kilos."
In November 2019, Auranta won the Irish Times Innovations Award for their products which are set to have a major contribution to calf health, up to 60% reduction in antibiotic use on-farm and a positive impact on Anti-microbial-resistance in the years ahead.
Alpha Calf Max is being used by a large number of farmers across Munster and the Midlands for the past four years, both beef and dairy farms.
Alpha Calf Mix is being distributed in Ireland by Cleanline Farm Services Ltd in Tipperary Town. Contact Joe Hayes at or . Visit cleanlinefarmservices.ie for more information. Alpha Calf Max is also available from Waterford Farm Relief Kilmacthomas on .