15:45 Improvement through grassland management

Rearing heifers at grass

Rearing spring-calved heifers to calve at
around two years of age from grazed
grass is the specic challenge addressed by
these advisory notes, although the issues
are relevant to all rearing regimes.
For the greatest economic value, heifers
need to be grown to an adequate size for
successful bulling at 15 months of age to
calve down at about two years old.
This is essential in block-calving herds and desirable
for those with a greater spread of calvings.
Practical grass-based heifer rearing systems
achieving this target, developed primarily
in Ireland and New Zealand, are operated
successfully by many UK herds.
Setting Growth Targets
Clear liveweight targets, with gains
required to achieve them over
the rearing period, are essential
to ensure maturity is reached in
time to serve the animals and get
them in good enough condition
to calve down (Tables 1 & 2).
The critical weight targets to achieve are at the
end of the rst six months of life and at 15 months
of age when the heifers need to be bulled.
Table 1: Heifer Rearing Targets for the Main Dairy Breed
Holstein Friesian Jersey
Age (months) Weight (kg)
Withers
Height (cm)
Weight (kg)
Withers
Height (cm)
Weight (kg)
Withers
Height (cm)
2 76 87 72 84 55 78
3 110 93 100 88 75 82
4 127 96 120 93 95 89
6 180 104 162 100 130 94
12 340 124 285 118 220 109
15 (mating) 420 129 350 122 265 114
16 440 131 370 126 280 117
18 490 133 405 130 305 119
21 545 137 470 132 355 120
22 586 138 490 133 362 121
24 (pre-calving) 636 140 535 134 395 122
24 (post-calving) 568 140 485 134 350 122
Factsheet 14
15:46 Improvement through grassland management
Table 2: Heifer Growth Targets
Age/stage
Proportion of Mature
Weight (%)
6 months 30
9 months 40
Mating 55-60
Pre-calving 90
Post-calving 85
Second calving 92
A simple line graph can be drawn to establish weight
for age targets for any type of heifer using the calf
birth weight at one end and desired calving weight at
the other (approximately 90% of the mature weight).
Specic levels of daily grass
intake are required to achieve
these targets (Table 3).
Table 3: Heifer Intakes of Good Quality
Grazing for Target Growth Rates (Table 2)
Rearing Period
Calving at
500kg
Calving at
600kg
Dry Matter Intake (kg/day)
1.5-3 months 2.7 3.1
3-6 months 4.2 4.9
6-12 months 6.6 7.1
12-15 months
(bulling)
7.9 8.6
15-23 months 9.9 10.5
23 months
- Calving
10.7 11.5
If these levels of consumption prove impossible,
supplementary feeding will be needed to ensure
the required weight for age targets are met.
Concentrate supplementation may be necessary
if target growth rates are not being achieved.
Feeding Calves
Heifer calves should be given at least 2 litres
of colostrum at birth and reared on a regular
system to about 4-6 weeks of age.
The calves can then be turned out into a
sheltered eld and fed cold milk once a day
from a milk bar (approx 4.5 litres/head/
day) with good hay always on offer.
Young calves settle more rapidly to this
system and do not wander far away.
They should always be offered the best grass and
moved-on daily, ideally being kept about a week
ahead of the cows in the grazing rotation and
well separated from them to avoid disturbance.
When the calves reach about 90kg liveweight
(at around three months of age) they should
be weaned on to grass-only diets.
Concentrate feeding should be unnecessary
but it is advisable to check weights frequently
to ensure growth rates are being sustained
(perhaps using weigh bands).
Managing Grazing
To give them top quality grass sufcient to sustain the
required growth rates, calves should be rotationally
grazed ahead of the cows until mid-summer.
At this stage they should be well-grown and can
stand slightly tougher grazing conditions.
From August of their rst summer the calves can
be block-grazed and moved less frequently.
They will not suffer from having a slightly slower
growth rate at this stage of their lives.
15:47 Improvement through grassland management
Providing they are meeting their target growth rates
the young-stock can safely be kept outside over
their rst winter on block grazing or forage crops.
They do, however, need to be offered adequate
dry matter and may need to be moved regularly
to ensure they do not poach elds badly.
Some hay or big bale silage may need to be
offered and clean water must be freely available.
Young-stock should be weighed regularly to
ensure target growth rates are being achieved.
During the second year of their lives,
heifers can be block-grazed, utilising
outlying or difcult-to-access elds.
They can also be used as a management
tool to clean up grass left in paddocks
when the cows are moved on.
This helps to reduce the labour required,
and can keep the bunch settled.
Yearlings have large appetites and are capable
of achieving good dry matter intakes.
Providing they are not under-fed for long,
compensatory growth will be achieved
when they are moved to fresh grazing.
While pastures used for young calves need to be
of very high quality, grass provided to yearlings
can usefully be allowed to become slightly more
mature with a slightly higher bre content to aid the
growth of frame and development of gut capacity.
Minimising Disease Problems
Parasites and other disease problems can
be an issue for young calves, seriously
compromising performance.
Calves should always be given access to clean
paddocks by grazing them ahead of other stock
and a careful watch should be kept for coccidiosis.
As the calves are turned out early, it is not
possible to vaccinate for lungworm.
Regardless of the standard of grazing
management, calves will be exposed to
a growing challenge from worms.
As soon as coughing or scouring starts, a
worming programme should be instigated and
maintained on a regular cycle (approximately
4-6 weeks depending on products used) through
the remainder of the grazing season.
Young-stock should be adequately protected
against lungworm and uke as well as other
internal and external parasites with a health
programme developed with veterinary advice.
Managing Fences, Water and Shelter
For ease of management, eld and track fences
can usefully have an additional electric wire at
a lower level to prevent calves from escaping.
It is important to ensure calves can reach into
water troughs and are not at risk of falling in.
With small calves it may pay to place a
temporary trough of smaller dimensions
in their elds and move it with them.
Some eld shelter may also be required for
smaller calves.
If there are no good hedges or convenient
buildings available, shelters can be constructed
from big bales covered with sheeting.
The Pd+ Farm Improvement
Programme provides practical
advice on managing heifer-
rearing for the greatest fertility.