The first herd replacement mob is outside in a large 2ha grass paddock with North facing shelters to keep them warm and dry. The shelters have dug out drainage filled in with soft edged river metal (stones) that heat up from the sun in the daytime and keep the calves warm and dry overnight. The calves in the photo are between 2 and 3 weeks old.
We can get up to 1500mm of rain each year and its important the calves have somewhere to shelter from the wind and the rain. That way all their energy can go into growing healthy and strong. The 50 teat calf feeder is filled up to the brim which holds just over 550lt and with a mob of 45 calves, they can each drink just over 12lt of milk a day. They also nibble on the grass and I feed out lucerne bailage fresh daily to give them extra protein to encourage them to put on 1kg of weight each day. We wean our babies off milk around 110-120kg to give them the best possible start in life.
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