Published: April 20, 2017 e-newsletter Brian Houin, Homestead Dairy LLC in Plymouth, Indiana, and Wes Obert, Legacy Dairy in Fort Branch, Indiana, were recently featured on a panel at the Indiana Dairy Producers Forum, held Feb. 1-2.

Both panelists utilize auto feeders and air tube ventilation, and use the all-in, all-out approach to sanitation. The article and follow-up were written by freelancer Somula Schwoeppe.

Read the full article here: Two Indiana calf operations focus on 6 key management areas for cald health.

Good day. I would like to know at what age (weeks) you wean, calf pellet consumption, as well as the daily growth average of the heifers. Thank you.

—Retief

Houin: “We are feeding the 40 Fit program and allow the calves unlimited milk for the first 30 days, then we drop down to 10 liters over the next 5 days, and we hold this amount for 7 days, over the next 14 days we drop from 10 liters to 2 liters of the milk and the calves are finally weaned at 70 days.

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We push the milk to the calves, and so we do not see much feed consumption until we hit that weaning stage. It is amazing to see how fast the calves get up to 10 pounds of feed per day when we drop the milk down to 2 liters per day.”

Obert: “We wean our calves a little later, we begin at 6 weeks and they are off milk at 7. We move them out at 8 weeks. On the autofeeder we are not completely sure. On the individual pens, we begin weaning when we see feed consumption at 2 pounds per day for 3 days straight and that is typically at about 6 weeks, maybe a little earlier.

We drop the milk feeding down and allow the calves to get used to not receiving any milk and then move them. Typically all of our calves are completely weaned at 8 weeks.”

Thanks for your reply to my question. We use a 20:12 CMR, 4L per day (2 feedings) for 10 weeks. Pellet intake is 2.2 pounds at 30 days, 2.9 pounds at 35 days. The pellets have a protein of 20 percent.

The average daily growth over the 10 weeks is 2 to 2.2 pounds per day per heifer. Heifers weigh about 290 pounds when weaned. We strive for ultimate rumen development from as young as possible.

—Retief

Editor’s note: Read on for new comments online (Progressive Dairyman). Visit the site today to ask a question on any article or leave a comment for the author.

PHOTO: Brian Houin, Homestead Dairy LLC in Plymouth, Indiana, and Wes Obert, Legacy Dairy in Fort Branch, Indiana. Photo by Somula Schwoeppe.