Riana brothers, Matt and Andrew Radford own a dairy farm in Tasmania and have made the decision to build a completely new shed in addition to installing a Calm Calf Feeder. A couple months ago during one of our farm visits, we had a quick chat with Olivia Millhouse , who works on the farm, about how it is all going following installation.
We asked Olivia why Matt and Andrew decided to build a new shed instead of utilising a smaller existing one, she responded saying:
"They wanted more room for the calves to be able to move around. When they grow, sometimes it's hard for us to get the calves out onto the paddocks due to the weather conditions down here and that can obviously cause a bit of trouble. It can be very hard for them to go from the shed to the green grass and so sometimes we would just delay them and keep them in the shed a little longer until the conditions outside are a little more favorable for the calves."
Olivia further explains how that this decision began from when the farm first installed their A3 milking systems.
"Matt and Andrew had to look at going into a robotic system due to employment issues but they were also looking at the calf comfort. They wanted to have happy calves and I think them having access to milk throughout the day rather than just the two feeds like in our traditional system, is very good."
At the time of us speaking with Olivia, the Calm Calf Feeder had been installed and running for three weeks. We were curious to see how her calves were adapting.
"We’re really happy with how the calves have transitioned, within 2-4 days all the calves have been very happy to voluntarily come up and have some feed "
Olivia further explained the benefits that the transition has had on the calves.
"I think the calves are very relaxed now and content so they’re feeding really well. They’re eating more in their own time and not having to compete all at once, so the more timid calves are able to come up when the more dominant calves aren’t feeding."
Lastly, we asked Olivia how excited she is to have the shed finalised.
"Yeah very excited, I like that in the stalls, the calves have a lot more freedom, they’ve got a lot more room for exercise and ventilation. Overall, we're just really happy with how content the calves are, they seem really happy and relaxed!"
