Sean Tynan Testimonial: Brighter calves with Shine

Sean Tynan milks 100 Montbelliard cross Friesian cows on his farm in Mountrath, Co Laois, Ireland. Last January, he invested in a Dairymaster computerised feeder. While the machine helps, Sean doesn’t rely on it completely. Like many European farmers, he waits until the calves are 7-10 days old before introducing the calves to the machine.

From day one, he inputs calf details into the system. That way, when calves are placed on the machine, they are already fed as if they were 10 days old. This approach helps calves adjust after the stress of being withdrawn from their mothers. They have time to settle before being grouped with others and trained on the feeder. It also makes training easier, as the calves are already used to being handled.

Shine is made with a combination of Skim and buttermilk to ensure easy digestion and minimum stress for the young calf. Sean found that the calves loved the buttermilk taste and took to the powder straight away.

“Shine is the only milk I had fed that is comparable in performance to cows milk.”

Sean was impressed with calf health and performance. He sold calves directly from the feeder at just four weeks of age and did not have to use electrolytes or treat a single calf for respiratory issues.

Shine contains butter and skim milk powder, meaning it digests slowly – taking at least 14 hours to digest. Whereas whey based powder alternatives digest in just 7-8 hours.

Joe Murphy of Bonanza Calf Nutrition advises farmers to focus on quality ingredients when choosing a calf milk replacer. The purchase of any new calf milk replacer should be based on its colour, its ease of mixing and its solubility. A white colour indicates high levels of skim milk, while easy mixing and good solubility show that the powder has been manufactured specifically for calf feeding – not rejected from other industries. According to Joe, ingredient quality matters far more than chemical analysis alone.