Feeding Calves to Grow in Cold Weather

Mrs. Dianne Shoemaker, Extension Dairy Specialist, OSU Extension Center at Wooster 

Growing and staying healthy - 2 universal objectives for raising calves from birth to weaning. As the seasons change, so must our management practices to achieve these two goals. Why?

First, a calf is born with approximately 3% body fat. There is barely enough of that fat available to the calf to meet her energy requirements for the first 18 hours of life. Colostrum has twice the level of fat than normal milk to start addressing the calf's need for energy at birth.

Second, there is a finite range of temperatures where an animal does not require additional energy to simply maintain the body. In other words, the body functions properly, but neither gains nor loses weight. Calves are the most sensitive to external temperatures of any bovine age group.

Newborn calves (from birth to 7 days,) have a lower critical temperature of around 55°F. In other words, when the temperature in their environment drops below 60°F, Calves require additional nutrients to simply maintain their body temperature (and weight). After the first week of life, they can handle a few more degrees of cold.

How much extra milk or milk replacer is needed simply to maintain body weight? The following table shows the increasing amounts of 20:20 (Protein:Fat) milk replacer required to meet maintenance requirements of different size calves at varying environmental temperatures.

Remember, these increases represent maintenance requirements. We also want the calf to grow. Additional milk replacer or milk must be fed to achieve your desired growth rates.