The next generation of calves in Fairvale Holsteins’ pens are now being fed by a 400-litre Holm & Laue Milk Taxi Mobile Mixer & Dispenser, which has significantly lightened their workload.
LIFETIME POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE IS ESTABLISHED IN THE CALF SHEDS
Anyone who needs proof that great cows are made in the calf pens, need look no further than Fairvale Holsteins in Tasmania.
Owned by Ross and Leanne Dobson and run with their son, Liam, the couple milk 540 cows at Bracknell in the state’s north-east. There are several interesting layers to this operation, which is run as commercially as it gets.
There can be no exciting cows without doing the work in the calf sheds. Fairvale’s peak production average is 37 litres a cow (with decent undulating walks to and from the dairy). There is no covered barn on this property. Photo: CrazyCow In Print.
Even though Fairvale hasn’t shown in its own right at any show since 2002, and it has never shown in its own right at the country’s biggest show, International Dairy Week (IDW), Ross and Leanne have bred and reared more Holstein IDW Champions than any other Australian breeder (six Champions for three different exhibitors between 2005 and 2023). The achievement takes on an even deeper meaning when – because of their geographical position – they have had the least cows attend IDW compared to other heavy-hitting mainland competitors.
Fairvale is a double Holstein Master Breeder herd, which achieved its second mantle with 6000 points to spare.
Fairvale Leader Josie was the second Fairvale bred and owned Grand Champion at International Dairy Week in 2006. She is pictured with one of the global industry’s greatest cattlemen at the halter, Joel Kietzmann, from the USA who had (at that time) bought into her.
Their cows shift well to new operations because they are bred right, and grown and developed as youngsters in a demanding climate.
Fairvale’s peak production average is 37 litres a cow (with decent undulating walks to and from the dairy). There is no covered barn on this property.
HOW TO SET CALVES UP FOR LIFE
There is plenty of evidence that the first six months of a calf’s life is critical to its lifetime production and development. Ross and Leanne are fully aware of that.
Until this season, rearing calves at Fairvale was laborious and heavy work. They didn’t back away from it, but it came at a physical cost. Ross had surgery this year for a hernia, which was partially attributed to the heavy lifting he was doing at the calf shed.
They feed warm milk twice-a-day to the 200 heifer calves (plus bull calves). Some of their calf sheds are a distance from the dairy, and they used to warm the milk using water from their hot water service (which heats to 97-degrees Celsius temperatures). That took time, it had to be finely judged, and it was dangerous for their team (handling near-boiling water).
Feeding the milk involved lifting 40 buckets a day, each weighing 25kg onto a ute to take them to the calf sheds. Time was the enemy for milk cooling down.
GAME-CHANGING DECISIONS
Warm milk delivered to young calves, measured accurately is now easier and faster.
This year, they decided enough was enough. They invested in a 400-litre Holm & Laue Milk Taxi Mobile Mixer & Dispenser. With a rechargeable battery-powered pump and dosing tap, the stainless-steel container not only warms, agitates, and holds milk at temperature. It mixes milk powder easily, dispenses perfectly measured amounts, and it’s mobile.
Consistency is part of the secret to successful calf-rearing and the Milk Taxi excels at consistency.
Ross says it’s early days, but he’s already thrilled with their decision.
“Lugging milk and dealing with scalding hot water wasn’t a lot of fun,” Ross said. “We’ve got three calf sheds and it’s already a lot easier with the taxi.
“When I went inside the other night my knees weren’t aching from lugging the calf milk to and from the dairy. With the taxi, the milk is already warm, we can drive it to the calf shed, and the wand fills up the calf feeders to the exact amount. I reckon we’ll do about one-tenth of the walking we used to do.
“It was always a challenge to get the milk to exactly the right temperature too. We had to watch it closely. With this thing, it’s within two degrees of being exactly what you want. You just drive it over, push the button, and away you go.
There can be no exciting cows without doing the work in the calf sheds. Fairvale’s peak production average is 37 litres a cow (with decent undulating walks to and from the dairy). There is no covered barn on this property. Photo: CrazyCow In Print
“We have set up six different feeding amounts. We can do a single feed at 2.5 litres, change it to other settings for mobs of five or six, and we have also set it for the twice-a-day and older once-a-day calves.”
Fairvale also feed BioCalf. BioCalf is a double-strength daily probiotic milk-additive powder for calves – which contains Australia’s only all-natural coccidiostat. It is added to the milk every day at one gram per calf. It maintains a strong baseline for a calf’s immunity. Ross said the milk taxi easily mixes the BioCalf easily – turning it into barely a job.
“We use BioCalf to keep the calves healthy, especially the young ones,” he said. “We also keep feeding it for longer than they recommend, because I believe it does work, and it will be even easier to include now we have the milk taxi.”
FREE CALL DAVIESWAY FOR MORE INFORMATION – 1800 600 269
