What’s Happening #05 – Starter Consistency
Today’s photo was taken a number of years ago during a farm visit in the late fall of the year on a farm in Pennsylvania in the United States. Let’s fly to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and drive to the heart of the dairy industry in the Keystone State!
The farm was about 1,000 cows and the farm manager chose to make their own calf starter by mixing pellets, corn, and oats in a cement mixer and adding molasses during the mixing process. Those are my hands, and I’m holding a small sample of starter from today – on the left – and a sample mixed from yesterday – on the right
Clearly, there is a big difference between the two. The product mixed today was much darker, indicating today’s product has much more molasses compared to yesterday’s. Now, keep in mind that, during the course of the day, molasses may dry out a little, so this isn’t 100% apples to apples comparison. However, even with some drying, there’s still a big difference between the feed that was fed to calves yesterday compared to today. Think about it from your perspective. Today, you get Corn Flakes for breakfast and tomorrow… it’s Frosted Flakes!
Is this a problem? You bet! There are two potential issues going on here.
The first is the absolute amount of molasses on today’s mix. Remember – while a little molasses is a good palatability agent, too much will reduce palatability, cause the feed to be sticky, and may cause rumen acidosis. Research from Penn State University showed clearly that too much molasses is bad for the rumen.
How much is too much? Well, here are a couple of Calf Notes that address this issue directly. Feel free to stop the video and scan the QR code to go to the Notes.
Calf Note Number 47 discusses calf starter palatability, including the use of molasses. And Calf Note Number 109 describes the value of molasses in calf starters. Go and take a look! The bottom line of Calf Note 109 is that we should keep molasses addition less than 12% of the mixture. A more realistic inclusion rate from a handling and palatability standpoint is 5 to 6%.
The second issue with different amounts of molasses is the variation in nutrient intake – especially sugar. We weren’t able to zero in on the amount of molasses actually added each day, but we guessed it was something like 10% on the left and 5% on the right. The problem here is the lack of consistency in nutrient intake. Changing nutrient intake from day to day makes it more difficult to manage intake and growth.
Remember, calves crave consistency, especially for breakfast!
Well, that’s it for today. Remember, a little of a good thing, like molasses, is great. Too much isn’t. Thanks for watching, and see you next time!
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