california cowgirl
Exploring the pasture
I had a mysterious epidemic in my calf pens last winter and the winter before. I had used the same Calf Milk Replacer for the last 10 yrs. We used to have three choices now only one. It was the best around. I had raised a steer about 8 yrs ago and then a heifer about 5 yrs ago and a bull about 3 1/2 yrs ago. So my problems started 2 yrs ago. We have a large cow/calf operation and calve our cattle in the winter months. We get twins or a calf that has losts its mother or a calf that is not doing well and I feed them in my calf pens and then graft onto a cow that has lost her calf. So I can have about 15-25 calves in a winter...depends on the amount of twins. My mysterious disease caused bloating, kicking the belly, grinding teeth { belly ache and or pain} take a bottle then refuse to eat. Will not get on feed even calves that are months old. Losing weight, eating dirt, drinking tons of water, shivering and lethargic. If they did not die from bloat they died later and the narcropsies showed death was from malnutrition and organ failure. They were enemic too. I got good at getting the bloat out with castor oil and mineral oil. Reached out to our state vet college and had a top vet help us do fecal samples and narcropsies and blood work. Nothing came back definite we had nothing that was alarming. Losing baby calves and we were just so heartbroken wondering what we had. Was treating them like they had bad scours. Nothing helped. At one point the vet asked me what kind of calf milk I was using. I told him and he asked me to read the label of ingredients on the tag on the bag. I did the protein level was 20% the fat level was 20% but the crude fiber level was 1% he said that is way too high. Means there is something other than a milk protein. Fillers...he said milk replacer companies use these ALTERNATIVE proteins to stretch out the milk. Makes the quality less then it should be for calves who can only utilize ALL MILK PROTEINS in their diets till they are ruminating. They do not have the digestive enzymes to break down the SOY or PLANT based proteins. Soy has ANF's which are ANTI NUTRITIONAL FACTORS which affect the digestive process and cause the soy to not be digested or absorbed along with anything else you eat with the soy and then cause malnutrition. Also the soy passes into the lower bowel where it ferments and causes diarrhea and bloat or colic. The calf will eventually lose weight and or die from other GI related complications, SOY can also damage their gut wall and cause permenant damage. BUT first that is if they bloat does not kill them first. I had all kinds of scenerios and the companies will say the calves can have it after three weeks of age and that is NOT true. I had all ages and even up to several months of age and they all did the same thing. Most died from the bloat and or damaged gut or malnutrition. Our first clue was do they get well once put on a cow...instantly they got well like overnight well. So I did not believe all this and thought no way my calf milk is the best it could not be the milk replacer and my vet said they change their ingredients all the time according to availability or costs since the protein is the most expensive in the whole mixture but the most important too. So we went on and on my last calf that was dying a slow death...I called the vet again and he told me to get that calf off that milk replacer and to get some whole milk from the store....we did and she got well in four bottles. I then found a local woman to buy goats milk and the calf finally as happy to eat and thrived and started to get on feed. I called quality assurance from the Milk Replacer company and complained and wanted to know what is in that milk replacer that was not in there two years ago....he was not very nice to me but I kept hammering him and wanted to know what made that crude fiber level so high cause some other milk replacers on not that high like the baby goat milk replacer and the lamb milk replacer and or the multi species milk replacer. So he finally told me the SOY PROTEINS was the culprit. I called my neighbor who had the same issues I was having all winter long with her endless calves and she has a degree in animal nutrition and when I said what is a soy protein she told me....OMG did you day SOY and I said yes she told me small ruminants....calves goats lambs which have multiple stomachs can NOT have soy it ferments in their gut and causes bloat.....OMG we both said that was our problem the whole time we were feeding the problem to them the whole time. I got the one feed store to NOT carry that milk and thru the quality assurance guy got them to take that milk replacer back...they did no questions asked. So I went to the other feed store. They listened and told me they would not carry that anymore but later on in the summer I saw they were still carrying it. I went online and printed out my information about SOY in calf milk replacers and went again to talk to the owner....they finally listened and agreed to not carry it. ONE week later they had tried to return the calf milk to the company and the company refused so they gave the company my name and phone number and told them my calves died on their milk replacer. I got a call from their top nutritionist. WE had a LONG talk and I flat told him my story and all we went thru and my vet would LOVE to talk to you. He has known for years the dirty little secret in the milk replacer industry. They ALL have different qualities of milk replacer...some good some poorer. When asked are you doing this to the dairy industry your bread and butter and he said NO they know better. So the cheaper stuff goes to the feed stores and the feed stores usually do not know much about what you need to have in a proper milk replacer for a calf. We rely on their companies to know their stuff and to make a nutritious healthy product to save that calf. We trust that brand that is their reputation. So why not put all that wasted money and time and effort into the poorer quality and put that into some really good milk replacers we ALL can use cause all baby calves are the same. They can not digest the soy and they do NOT do that till rumination occurs and it takes time and TLC and the proper feed and maturity for their rumen to work properly. The man agreed with me and was very nice but I gave him plenty to think about and he confirmed so much of what I already knew. I told him I was going to educate to anyone I could hoping to avoid this in others and save some baby calves from a horrible death. I feel so disappointed that our milk replacer industry has done this. I have learned more than I needed to ever know but I guess I need to know. So I have some links for you all to look up to see for yourself what I have learned. First of all always consult your large animal vet one that knows about cattle and can help you diagnose or when looking for a milk replacer read the label or ingredients on the tag on the bag. It should have a list of ingredients and the protein level should be 20% or higher, more in cold weather. Fat level should be 20% or higher and should be ANIMAL FAT based no plant based. Crude Fiber level should be .15% or Lower. Mixing bottles you should mix more of the milk replacer in a bottle than it says on the label as the calf gets more mobile and more appetite. At least 1 1/2 times more. Calves do better being fed three times a day it simulates their natural feeding habits out in the pastures. The calf should have fresh water at all times water helps get their rumen working and starts to provide the good bacteria they need to start this process. Also calf starter should be offered around 2-3 weeks with some hay this will start to get their rumen working and it takes time people. It is a delicate process. Also when calf drinks milk replacer or milk the esophageal groove shuts and the milk does not go into the rumen it goes passed the first three stomachs and into the Abomasum and into the bowel. If the soy is there it will ferment in the gut and cause bloat and death. It can not be digested in the lower bowel it has to be in the stomachs and that is not happening yet. Places to look for information are 1} www.merckmanels.com/vet/digestive_system_disease or Diarrhea in Neonatal Ruminants it talks about all the diseases baby calves can have that cause diarrhea but also it talks about the poor quality milk replacers and the soy that can cause colic and diarrhea and GI damage or death. 2} www.cattletoday.com/forum/bottlefeedinginfo another very good article that explains about feeding calves and has topics where the soy in the milk replacers are addressed and the harm it causes and poor quality milk replacers. 3} www.jonbarron.org Benefits and Dangers of Soy Products this is an amazing article and talks about the ANF's in SOY not only for cattle and animals but for Humans and the properties of SOY that are harmful are amazing. I am shocked. Very eye opening. 4} www.calfNotes.com #23 Soy in Milk Replacers , there are over 100 articles they all have numbers on the fabulous site to help deal with anything you wanted to know about calves and raising them on a bottle or how their digestive system works and how to nurture that. Things to do and to avoid. Very informative. 5} BAMN or the Bovine Alliance on Management & Nutrition two articles that show you how milk replacer is made and what all the ingredients are and why they are there. Soy and alternative proteins are talked about. Soy Flour is the worst and in the marginal category. But you have to remember ALL SOY no matter what they do to it is not digestable for baby calves till they are older and using their stomachs and ruminating. The two articles are A Guide to Calf Milk Replacers and or A Modern Guide to Calf Milk Replacers they both should be read to get an idea of how these are made and what the ingredients are. Breaks it all down. 6} Merricks.com is another Milk Replacer Guide that is very very informative and really has a lot of information for calf rearing on a bottle. Please read and talk to your vet and hopes that others will NOT have to go thru what I went thru. ALL MILK PROTEINS are Dried WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, Dried Whey, Dried Whey Product, Skim Milk, Casein, Sodium or Calcium Caseniate, Buttermilk, or Dried Milk Product. You DO NOT want SOY Flour, Protein Modified SOY Flour, Soy protein Concentrate, Soy Protein Isolate, Animal Plasma, Wheat Gluten or Isolate, Glycine Max is the scientific term for Soybean or Soy anything. Sometimes it is disguised that way. It will also say Some All Milk proteins and some ALTERNATIVE proteins is a clue or Plant based proteins your want the label to say ALL MILK Proteins and the list of ingredients should have the all milk proteins listed in the first 1-4 or 6 ingredients that is the most important ingredients first the proteins. I hope this helps others to avoid what I went thru. And I hope this guide helps explain how I came to this and what I have learned. My second feed store did get that milk returned since I complained to the nutritionist the representative for the company got his phone number and called to verify and the feed store got their milk returned and no questions asked. Now they know and are carrying all milk protein calf milk replacers. I am happy.
