This piece was made in partnership with Farmlands.

Farmlands calving expert and technical specialist Karen Fraser has managed calving programmes across dairy units for about 30 years, and says water quality should be the first thing calf rearers check before spring calving. 

“We could be doing everything right and doing our basics right, but we overlook how water can actually stop some of those major minerals from being absorbed into the animal.”

She says clean water drives feed intake and growth. 

“If we have good water that tastes really good, our animals will also give us more milk.”

The problem compounds with calf milk replacers. When a mix froths or turns brown, farmers tend to blame the powder rather than the water. 

“If they start mixing them and they’ve got high levels of E. coli, we start getting more bacterial loading, we start seeing more bloat.” 

A Hills water test through a Farmlands technical field specialist can confirm whether the water is the problem.

Calves are born with almost no immunity, relying on colostrum antibodies in the first hours of life. 

“It’s the single most important feed for that calf.”

Miss that window, and a dairy heifer can carry the cost for the rest of her productive life. She says the five Qs are quality, quantity, quickly, squeaky clean and quietly, and calm calves absorb more.

Ad-lib feeding is making a comeback. The trick is stepping calves down off high volumes at about five or six weeks so the rumen kicks in.

“We’ve got that animal that’s digesting like a monogastric, but we’re also developing that future ruminant.” 

That rumen only develops with clean water in reach. 

“It’s pretty hard to eat dry Weet-Bix without water.”

Fraser walks through each stage in the nine-part Cow to Calf series on the Farmlands YouTube channel, with a downloadable rearing guide alongside.

Visit the Farmlands website here to watch the full content series or through the Farmlands YouTube page here.  

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.