Raising dairy heifers is often seen as a costly and labor-intensive process with delayed economic returns. However, modern dairy farming demands a shift in perspective: heifers are not expenses but investments that determine the future productivity, genetic progress, and profitability of the herd.

Ruminants, characterized by their three forestomachs – one of which, the rumen, gives them their name – are born monogastric! The forestomachs function gradually become fully operational by weaning for a successful transition. During this transition, the rumen, omasum, and reticulum grow rapidly. The abomasum, which corresponds to the stomach in the strict sense of the term, represents two-thirds of the gastric and pre-gastric volumes at birth. At weaning, the stomach will occupy only one-fifth, and the rumen, two-thirds. This growth in forestomach volume is accompanied by a rapid development of absorption surfaces with the establishment of ruminal papillae. This anatomical metamorphosis is accompanied by another nutritional metamorphosis: the establishment of rumen fermentation. This ecosystem of anaerobic microorganisms supplies volatile fatty acids and microbial proteins essential for the calf’s lifelong energy and protein needs.

The calf’s birth weight typically doubles at weaning. This external growth is accompanied by the internal development of the rumen and its papillary exchange surface. This rapid muscle and tissue growth highlights the importance of early protein nutrition.

Weaning is the first major transition in the life of the ruminant. Indeed, the newborn calf begins its life with a strict monogastric status and must evolve in a few weeks towards a status of ruminant animal. Weaning is a fundamental validation step for the calf’s passport towards definitive maturity of its digestive system.

Healthy start and successful weaning transition are the fundamental pillars in rearing heifer breeding strategy. The duration of this phase has a strong economic impact and must therefore be well managed. From the first days of life until weaning, a strategic moment is played out which will have consequences on the future dairy performance of the heifer. Hamlet Protein has winning solutions in the two main ways of feeding young calves towards successful weaning.

Starter dry feed tends to fly under the radar. And that is a shame because the starter feed is an essential point of improvement for a successful weaning transition. The initiation of fermentation functions is an important step in the start-up phase of the ruminant. The choice of protein provided by starter feeds is clearly underestimated but has a major impact on the initiation of rumination and calves’ gut health.

A lot of people think that there is nothing better than milk protein for young calves, but high-quality vegetable protein can compete in Calf Milk Replacers (CMR) formulations. Our product HP 100 is an enzyme-treated soybean meal with a very low content of soy-derived Anti Nutritional Factors (ANF) currently used in young animal starter feeds as protein concentrate. In the young ruminant challenging preweaning phase, this vegetable protein specialty presents strong arguments to be integrated in the CMR ingredient list.

Currently, the term "gut health" is, without any doubt, one of the most widely used expressions in animal nutrition for both scientific and marketing purposes. We could think that it is just a “trendy” concept, however the gastrointestinal tract (gut) and its health status really play a key role in the proper physiological development of animals and, in the end, in their growth and performance. Thus, everyone talks about “gut health” but...