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Calf Feeding: What is Balanced Feed

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Introduction

Forovercoming Repeat Breeding the calf should be reared according to the standards. The standard is that Holstein cow should be 100kg in 100 days. For this in brief the calf should be given colostrum just after birth, then it should be given milk amounting to 1/10th of its body weight. After 10 days, the calf starter should be offered to cow. And once the calf is tricking 1kg of calf starter then milk should be stopped this may take 15-days.

Strucure of a calf’s Stomach

The calf stomach is simple stomach same like our stomach, to the calf starter contains 50% maize, 25% cake (Khal) and 25% Bran (Bran of wheat or pulses) + 2% good quality mineral mixture, add some Jaggery (Gur) to make it tasty and sweet.

The calf should not be offered any fodder and there should be only fodder and feed, and once the calf is eating 3 kg of calf starter, we should then offer fodder gradually.

After 3 months of age when it is eating fodder then the grower ration 2kg per day should be given. Till the calf is 15 months old. At this period of time at 15 months calf is 250 – 300 kg and it is ready for insemination. After avoiding first two or three cycles the calf should be inseminated with sexed semen and the conception should be confirmed by a month period.

Exotic cow deliver claves in 24 to 30 months if the above protocol is not followed then there is a problem of Repeat Breeding and delayed maturity arises. The readymade calf starter ration are available in the market, you can grow your own and buy it from the market.