Assessment of Early Calves’ Weaning Diet as Milk Replacer for Smallholder Dairy Production Systems in Kenya

Small-scale dairy farmers in Kenya are increasingly interested in selling milk to supplement their income, particularly during dry seasons when milk prices rise. This leads to low calf growth rates, high calf mortality rates, late maturation, and overall economic losses in smallholder dairy production systems. Innovative development of early calves weaning formulae as milk replacers would provide a long-term solution for calves' nutrition and household income. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and economic efficacy of an early calves weaning formula as a milk replacer for small-holder dairy production systems. This would in turn establish the effectiveness and economic returns to replacing milk with formulated early calf weaning diets (EWDs) on the survival and general performance of dairy calves in Kenya. Milk feeding for up to 105 days (Control) and milk (28 days) + EWD, fortified or not fortified with effective microorganisms (EM), diamond-V, or Diatomite (DT), for up to 105 days were used as treatments. The treatments had no effect on the calves' average daily weight gain (P>0.05). The EM- treatment, on the other hand, had significantly (P<0.01) higher calve dry matter (DM) intake (g kg-1) than the other treatment groups. The total milk saved for the farmer as a result of EWD feeding was 9 kg-1cow-1day-1; equal to 945 kg for the 105 period, valued at US$614. Total milk saved for conventional milk feeding (control) was 5 kg-1 cow-1 day-1, equal to 525 for the 105 period, valued at US$ 341. Diarrhea was observed in significant amounts in both the control (milk) and the Diamond-V fortified treatments. In DT-fortified EWDs, signs of hair loss and discoloration were observed. Because EM- fortification reduced disease incidences, EWD fortified with this microbial feed additive can be an effective milk-replacer in smallholder dairy production systems, allowing dairy calves to be weaned at 28-35 days with good economic and performance results.