Use bottle holders for newborn calves
Ideas for more
efficient dairy
farming.
by Gunnar Josefsson,
Marcia Miquelon and
Larry Chapman
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits Project
Newborn calves are
often fed milk in bottles during
their first 3-7 days of life. This can be both timeconsuming and backbreaking.
Using bottle holders can save labor costs and eliminate the need to stoop
for long periods while the youngest calves feed.
Benefits of using
bottle holders
Less stress
on body. When you hand feed newborn calves, you must hold a milk
bottle (4.5 lb. when full) for 1-4 minutes or longer twice a day while
the calf consumes it. This means up to eight minutes per day per calf
of standing in an awkward, stooped position. This often leads to back
fatigue and pain. Also, holding the bottle while guiding the calf to drink
puts stress on your arms.
Efficient and easy
to use. Most calves will quickly learn to drink independently from
the bottle. Depending on the calf, you can either drop the bottle and
leave, or monitor the calf with your back straight . With bottle holders
placed at the front of pens, built into hutches, or placed on front-runs
(wire panels), you can feed bottles without entering the pen or hutch.
Slow-drinking calves can take their time without slowing your work down.
Stooping to hand-feed newborn calves is tiresome and awkward.
Bottle holders ease the strain of wet feeding.
Are bottle holders cost effective?
One case study indicated that an average healthy calf may take 96 seconds
(about 1.5 minutes) to finish 2 quarts of milk in a bottle. Using these
data, we estimated the labor time saved, using the following assumptions:
Calves are bottle-fed for the first five days of life, and out of this
5 day period, calves are able to drink independently for 3 days (day 3-5).
Some farmers use portable bottle holders (wire-type) while other farmers
prefer stationary bottle holders in each hutch or pen. The cost for portable
bottle holders varies from $2.00- $5.00 each. More durable stationary
bottleholders can be purchased for about $6.00. The number of bottle holders
required depends on the herd size, seasonal calving, and work routines
used. The financial calculations are summarized in table 1.
Some farmers may have a lower cost for hired or family labor. Calculations
based on $5.00 per hour reduced the annual cost savings by about 55%,
and increased the pay back time from one to about 2 months.
