Shine Heiferstart has been formulated to counteract stress in calves.

• It is made with low heat skim milk and buttermilk – milk’s secret weapon – together with high levels of coconut oil and milk sugar.
• It is easy to digest and helps create and maintain a good microbiome in the calf’s digestive system.
• To ward off cold weather stress, a range of polyphenols are included to reduce the effect of pathogenic viruses in the gut.

Understanding what causes stress in calves is a good first step to preventing it.

Small changes to diet, housing, group size, handling and, importantly, weather, all take their toll on young animals.

For instance, when a calf is cold its respiratory system is not as effective at preventing viruses from entering its lungs and, as more sugar energy is needed to maintain body temperature, so less is available to fight disease.

In hot weather, as blood supply is pushed towards the skin, the calf has to increase its respiration rate and deal with more inflammation in its digestive system.

Heat and humidity levels are both important and are measured as Thermal Heat Index (THI) units. A THI higher than 77 (see chart) will put the calf into a position of stress.

Calves born to cows during hot weather will be affected by THI levels in the high 60s. Those born during these conditions tend to be lighter and the colostrum quality from their dam tends to be poorer.

As a specialist calf milk replacer company, we at Bonanza feel that it is important to tackle heat stress in calves and that is why Shine Heiferstart is the first calf milk to include a tried and tested package of ingredients including Heat Stress Additives (HSA) that are shown to reduce respiration rates to 7-8 breaths minute and lower body temperature by 0.5°C.

During a series of trials in 2019 and 2020 at the University of Milan, calves fed with HSA were shown to have increased intakes and growth rates and less health problems compared to calves in a control group fed a standard milk replacer.