A trial has shown weight gain advantages and improved health in calves fed a transition milk (TM) replacer for the 21 days immediately following colostrum feeding.

TM is a highly nutritious and immune-boosting milk produced by the cow for at least the first five to six milkings after colostrum production. Some of the bioactives found in TM may indeed be present for much longer but have not yet been measured.

A recent trial in France looked at the effects of feeding a TM replacer, Transformula, manufactured by Bonanza Calf Nutrition.

Calves were split into two groups, both receiving the same colostrum treatment for the first three days after birth.

On day four, calves in Group A were fed a good quality 40% skim-based milk replacer (MR) at 23% crude protein and 19% fat for 21 days while those in Group B received Transformula for that period.

Precisely the same quantities of powder were fed in each group throughout the trial period.

The results showed that the Transformula group had, at 650g/calf/day, significantly higher weight gains when they were 30 days old compared to calves that received the standard MR – these grew at 480g/calf/day (see Chart 1).

This meant that in their first month of life, the Transformula group gained an average of 5.1kg, 35% more than calves fed the standard MR.

This extra growth is a consequence of improved development in the baby calf.

A similar study (Kargar et al., 2021) saw partial TM feeding extended to three weeks of age.

One group received two litres a day of TM together with four litres a day of milk while the control group didn’t receive any TM.

The TM group showed significantly higher weights post-weaning, with a 137g/day advantage; overall they grew by an extra 89g/day.

These calves were weaned on day 60 and monitored until day 90.

A reason for these growth differences is the positive impact the properties found in TM has on development, and the foundation of health up to weaning and beyond.

The first month of life is often difficult for calf rearers as the calves are at their most vulnerable to disease.

But TM has been shown to help with this too.

Over a quarter of the calves in Group A in the French trial, which received standard MR, experienced scours during the first month of life while there were no cases in the group fed TM replacer. This finding correlates with other recent studies (Kargar et al., 2021).

TM is Nature’s ideal follow up feed to colostrum as the levels of immunity-stimulating components are much higher than standard whole milk/MR.

Ingredients include an insulin-like growth factor, and glucagon-like peptide 2, which enhances the growth of epithelial tissue, and oligosaccharides, which promote the closure of the intestinal wall.

TM supports the rapidly evolving gut of the young calf.

Repeated feeding of TM helps to promote intestinal development and protects the calf against pathogens. Lining the gut with TM tops up the nutrients and bioactive material to nourish the intestinal wall.

For practical reasons it is not always possible to feed cow TM in the first three weeks and there is also the risk of spreading milk-borne diseases such as Johnes and mycoplasma from cow to calf. In addition to this, proper storage of large volumes of transition milk isn’t always possible and the milk is left sitting in buckets from one feed to the next, this can result in calves being fed a bacterial soup which can cause more harm than good.

Transformula, the first replacer of its kind, offers an alternative.

It contains ingredients that help set the calf up for a productive life, protect and develop the small intestine, optimises health, weight gains, and general contentment in calves which would otherwise receive regular MR.

References:

Kargar, S., Bahadori-Moghaddam, M., Ghoreishi, S.M., Akhlaghi, A., Kanani, M., Pazoki, A., Ghaffari, M.H., 2021.