The annual Animal Health Ireland (AHI) and Teagasc CalfCare events will take place again this January on farms across the country.
The series of 15 events, titled ‘CalfCare 2023, Back to Basics’, will be run by AHI and Teagasc while being supported by Volac Ireland in conjunction with several of the major dairy co-ops.
Calf health depends greatly on the quality and management of the calf in early life, particularly in the first six weeks. This series of events aims is to prepare farmers on how to, and the importance of best practices in calf rearing by bring it back to basics in advance of the coming season.
Una Hickey, National Sales Manager, Volac Ireland said: “We are once again delighted to team up with AHI and Teagasc to facilitate the CalfCare events for 2023.
“The demand for the events is growing year on year, and with topics such as calf health, welfare and nutrition up for discussion we suspect that this year will be no different.”
“A successful calf-rearing season is vital for the success and profitability of farming and the topics covered in this series of CalfCare events will hopefully help farmers as they approach this important time on their farms,” added Grainne Dwyer, Communications Manager, AHI.
“AHI is very pleased to be back running the on-farms events after a break of three years and as always, we are very grateful to the host farmers for facilitating us and to Teagasc, the dairy Coops and Volac for their support.”
George Ramsbottom, dairy specialist, Teagasc said: “Teagasc is delighted to partner once again with AHI and the milk processors in the delivery of the upcoming CalfCare events.
“Our latest research shows that once calves are well reared on milk or milk replacer and carefully transitioned to solid feeds prior to weaning, they can be weaned at 15% of mature liveweight with no impact on subsequent performance provided that their post weaning management is excellent.
“At the events we’ll discuss best practice in relation to the critical practices of both milk feeding and weaning.”
CalfCare events
Each events will focus on five key areas:
- Calf rearing key performance indicators;
- Knowing the correct calf numbers to rear in an area;
- Feeding calf milk replacer;
- Management at weaning;
- Signs of calf health.
Addressed will be the key performance indicators when rearing calves and strategies to reduce mortality and morbidity.
Knowing the correct number of calves to rear in a particular shed or pen is important to calf performance. These CalfCare events will explore alternative housing for farms that have more calves than the optimum number.
Additionally, the latest information will be available on calf comfort and alternative housing options.
With the growing interest in feeding calf milk replacer and a positive milk price, feeding and management of calf milk replacer will be up for discussion. There will be experts on hand to give advice on best practices while feeding milk replacer manually or through an automatic feeder.
Weaning of calves will be addressed and how to minimise the risk of summer scour syndrome, which hinders calf performance on many farms. Calf health is widely regarded as one of the main contributors to calf performance and subsequent profitability.
These CalfCare events will look to help identify signs of good calf health and educate farmers managing pain relief and vaccination programmes.
| Date | Location |
|---|---|
| Jan 4 | Michael and Odhran Murphy, Bigpark, Latteragh, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary E45 HD89 |
| Jan 5 | Pierce Breen, Newtown, Pallasgreen, Co. Limerick V94 667T |
| Jan 6 | William Healy, Ballyshonin, Berrings, Co. Cork P12 H213 |
| Jan 9 | John Cullinane, Shanaway, Ballineen, Co. Cork P47 AK80 |
| Jan 10 | Lisavaird Dairy Farm, Kippagh, Dunmanway Co. Cork P47TV08 |
| Jan 11 | John Roche, Hacketstown, Co. Carlow R93 WE1N |
| Jan 12 | Kevin Murphy, Chapel, Clonroche, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford Y21 E2T3 |
| Jan 13 | Kieran and Niall O’Brien, Grallagh, Grange, Co. Waterford P36 WK79 |
| Jan 17 | Donal and Eileen McSweeney, Knockardrahan, Kanturk, Co. Cork P51 EY62 |
| Jan 18 | Michael Burns, Muckenagh, Eyrecourt, Ballinasloe, Galway H53 ND32 |
| Jan 19 | Padraic and Pat Kennedy, College Hill, Templemore, Co. Tipperary E41 Y273 |
| Jan 20 | Eoin Corrigan, Batterstown House, Trim, Co. Meath C15 HHF2 |
| Jan 24 | John MacNamara, Starview, Gormanstown, Hospital, Co. Limerick V35 PC98 |
| Jan 25 | David Somerville, Moysdale, Killanley, Ballina PO, Co. Sligo F26 N2H2 |
| Jan 26 | Ballyhaise Agriculture College, Ballyhaise, Co. Cavan H12 E392 |
For more information, click here.
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