While every dairy farmer knows the importance of raising healthy calves, owning one of the top Holstein herds in Australia adds an extra element to ensure things are done just right.
For Glen and Drew Gordon from Gorbro Holsteins at Cohuna, this has meant investing some pretty big bucks into a purpose-built shed, along with employing dedicated staff member Kelly Bleijendaal, whose sole job is to manage the calves and the show cows.
“Drew used to feed the calves before Kelly and he did a great job but it was always in the back of his mind what was the next job to rush too, now Kelly can focus on the calves and it doesn’t matter how long it takes to feed them each day, we trust her to do the job well,” Glen said.
The new shed is 112m long and 22.5m wide.
It is part one of a significant on-farm infrastructure development which will eventually see the completion in October of an 750-head, free stall barn.
The calf shed is orientated east/west with a skillion roof to make the most of the northern Victorian climate — sun in winter and shade in summer. It has also been constructed to be dual purpose and house the show team.
The shed is capable of holding up to 250 calves and includes a cemented wet area up one end of the pen where the grain and milk is fed. The hay feeder is situated away from the wet area and up the opposite end of the pen for easy filling.
The calves are bedded on a concrete floor with straw for comfort, in pens of eight.
The simple design enables calves to be easily moved between pens if required and perhaps even more importantly for cleaning.
Once a pen of calves is moved the gates are opened and the bedding is scraped out, the pen cleaned and disinfected and readied for the next batch.
The calves are moved into the calf shed after spending the first three weeks individually housed in hutches.
Each hutch is pressure washed and placed on a greenfield sight with clean bedding before a calf moves in.
Glen and Drew have been managing their newborns in hutches for the past six years because they believe it reduces the spread of sickness and allows them to focus on giving each calf the best possible start.
Being portable, they can also move the hutches to different locations.
Kelly said it took about an hour to get around and feed all the calves in the hutches and then she moves onto the main shed.
A game changer for the calf rearing system has been the purchase of a Daviesway milk taxi.
The taxi heats the milk up to 39℃ and disburses it straight into the 20 litre troughs without having to measure a single litre of milk or lift a heavy bucket.
Kelly said the main reason she moved to Gorbro was because of the family’s focus on animal health and welfare.
“It is extremely important to me how people treat their stock and there is certainly a real focus here to give every animal the best life possible — from calves through to show cows, it’s amazing,” Kelly said.
Kelly said the key to raising a healthy calf is to ensure an early drink of good quality colostrum.
“Colostrum management is high on the list here and we top up our fresh milk with Kwik Start, an artificial colostrum we put in the milk for added health benefits,” Kelly said.
Each newborn calf is given three bottles of colostrum.
Kelly also pays particular attention to every calf.
“Knowing your calves and their personalities means you pick up really quickly if they are getting sick,” she said.
Kelly estimates she has reared more than 1800 calves in the past couple of years.
“I have always loved working with young stock and even though I have been doing it full-time for the last two years, I still love it,” she said.
Kelly moved to Australia from the Netherlands, and while she didn’t grow up on a dairy farm, her love for cows was fostered by the dairy farmers next door.
“I think I was 12 when I first started going over there to see the cows,” Kelly said.
In 2019 Kelly came to Australia to stay for a few months, but COVID-19 soon put a stop to her returning and she has been working in Australia ever since.
Working with calves is just one of Kelly’s loves, the other is showing cattle, something she has been doing since she was 20 — she gets the best of both worlds at Gorbro.