Calf rearers say goodbye to leaky teats, poor feeder fit
Leaky teats and poor feeder fit are now a thing of the past for calf rearers - thanks to the Thriver range of calf teats from Skellerup.
Calf rearing expert Dr Bas Schouten was in charge of the project – small-scale observation trials on spring- and autumn born calves, the company reports.
Schouten measured liveweight gain and growth rates in the first seven days, and compared other key calf performance indicators including speed of drinking, curdling, rate of metabolism and lactose absorption.
Dairy farmer and Peach Teat founder Robert McIntyre says the consistency of results for Peach Teats are familiar to hundreds of rearers who have used them for 20 years. “They’re the gold standard for discerning rearers… and this is why,” McIntyre says.
For optimising calf development from day one with a view to rearing better, longer lasting heifers with less genetic wastage, good teats are essential.
“A calf that struggles to get started on a teat never catches up. Think of how much has been invested in getting that calf on the ground in the first place, and the expectation of her future productivity; no wonder using the right teats is a priority.”
If farmers aren’t feeding these calves properly, they’re wasting time and money already spent on producing the calves, and compromising their growth, development and performance.
McIntyre says Peach Teats were used in a recent Swedish study, in which calves were fed specifically for high daily growth rates and achieved up to 1kg liveweight per day.
Peach Teat is designed to simulate natural feeding, squirting milk into the calf’s mouth as during real milk let down, delivering a full mouthful with less effort.
This season Skellerup will donate 10c to the IHC for every Peach Teat sold during June.
The company’s national manager Perry Davis says rearers like the teats because they’re effective, easy to clean and fit virtually any feeder, and they are ideal for sick or weak calves. “With non-valve teats, milk is often pushed back into the feeder and weak calves can struggle to get a proper drink.”
But Peach Teats have two valves: a primary flap valve at the back of the teat, which closes when the calf suckles to ensure milk is squirted out the end of the teat; and a secondary valve, which uses transverse slits at the nipple end of the teat to minimise leaking.
This means the calf does not have to work hard getting milk from the feeder.
Davis says the benefits of Peach Teats can be quantified via a few simple questions: how many calves do I plan to have in each pen? how many people do I have available for the job of looking after those calves?
“If you have two staff raising 500 calves, for example, it’s unlikely those staff will get around the calves more than once a day, so they need to know the calves are all drinking well.
“And how experienced are the workers? How much time will they have for cleaning and hygiene?”
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