Calf Care Around the World: James Kent - South Africa
This week our travels will take us to the Southern Hemisphere as we learn about Calf Rearing in South Africa! I was able to spend some time talking to James Kent to gain some insight into the dairy industry there.
James grew up on a 200-cow dairy in South Africa. Over the course of his lifetime, he has milked a lot of cows and in the late 80’s as a college student, he even spent some time on an ag exchange on a dairy in Wisconsin, USA. James worked at ABS Global for 10 years, and then joined NutriBasics and has been working there for 26 years. James says he really enjoys the calves, they are the future of the herd, and if raised correctly will ensure the farm has a good future ahead.
Q: How has the dairy industry evolved over the past 20 years in South Africa?
A: The dairy industry has grown a lot here in the past few years. Growing up most of the dairies were like ours, around 200 cows. Now the farms are 1000- 1500 cows. They are pasture-based systems similar to farms in New Zealand. There are some regions in South Africa that milk cows more intensively and feed a total mixed ration (TMR), but most are measuring profitability by turnover per hectare. The limitation is how far the cows can walk to eat the grass and then return to be milked. The whole drive is to make as much money off the farm as possible and limit the amount of purchased feed. Corn silage is fed to get the cattle through the winter months. Grain feeding is limited, usually around 5 kg per day.
Q: What breeds of cattle are milked in South Africa?
A: Mostly Holstein, Jersey, and crosses of those breeds. The cattle here are very much a New Zealand type cow. They are very efficient in turning grass into milk.
Q: Tell us a little bit about calf raising in South Africa.
A: The majority of farms raise their own calves. These pasture-based systems calve seasonally, about 70% in the spring and 30% in the fall. This allows the farm to make the best use of the grass in the spring, as this is the cheapest feed available. Fall calving keeps the milk processors going all year, and utilizes the Autumn flush for feed.
Q: What kind of milk feeding and starter feeding programs are common in South Africa?
A: There are a whole combination of factors, everyone does things a little differently. Baby calves up to 2 weeks old are usually housed individually. Then they are moved to group pens of 5-10 calves. There is about a 50:50 split of farms that use whole milk vs farms that use milk replacer. Jerseys are usually fed 6L per day, and Holsteins usually get 8L per day. Calves are weaned at 10 weeks of age. The goal is to double birth mass by 10 weeks of age, some farms here aim to gain 2.5 times birth mass by 10 weeks of age. Normally the calf starter is a crumble/pellet or meal, we don’t have any rolled or steam flaked corn here. The protein ranges from 18%-24%. The biggest thing is to get it into the calf.
Q: What does calf housing look like?
A: We don’t get extreme cold, so most of our calves are outdoors and in simple housing. We try to utilize the sun and fresh air as much as we can as this provides a clean environment for the calf to grow in.
Q: What is labor availability like in South Africa?
A: We don’t have the best educated people available for employment. Most of them don’t have the compassion necessary to look after calves 24:7. This has a big effect on calf mortality. Most of the workers here are native to South Africa and we try to use ladies in the calves if possible.
Q: What is typical calf health like in South Africa?
A: Our aim is 3% mortality or less but probably achieving about 5% on average. At birth we use a product here called Calf Rescue. In the USA it is sold as Sync. For the past 20 years we have also supplemented the milk with Nutricalf, it gives the calf an extra chance to survive, and is available in the USA as dry Surveillance. We have also started using liquid Surveillance Calf with very good results. For sick calves we use an electrolyte called Nutrilyte. Keeping calves hydrated makes a big difference in their recovery. I recommend 1.5L during the day and then they will be ready for milk.
Thank you James for the insight on raising calves in South Africa!
Written by: Mariah Gull, M.S.