ASDA’s DairyLink and BeefLink farmers will now find it cheaper and easier to rear new born calves, thanks to a series of discounts negotiated by the supermarket on colostrum and milk powder as well as ear tags.
As part of its CalfLink initiative, ASDA is offering all of its cattle farmers the chance to buy powdered calf colostrum at just £4.50 per sachet. They can also continue to get a 10% reduction on milk powder and supplements. Both deals, mean ASDA farmers can get their calves, regardless of sex, off to the best possible start improving the health and performance of the animal throughout its lifetime. The discounts have been negotiated with The Calf Company - a specialist supplier of products and services to calf rearers in the UK.
Pearce Hughes, agricultural manager at ASDA, said: "Ensuring a calf gets sufficient immunoglobulins via colostrum within six hours of being born is paramount to its survival, immunity and lifetime performance. With such a great deal available, we are encouraging all our farmers to use the colostrum supplement for bull calves as well as heifers. This will help them get their stock off to a flying start before arriving at our specialist dairy bull rearing units."
ASDA’s decision to forge a deal on colostrum followed discussions with Geoff Spence, one of the supermarket’s DairyLink suppliers and last year’s British Dairy Farmer of the Year.
Geoff said: "With high yielding dairy cows it is often hard to get enough colostrum into new born calves. Using a powder to supplement a heifer’s first milk makes real sense. I began using a supplementary colostrum powder six weeks ago and have been very impressed with the initial results.
"One sachet per calf is enough to get them started. This, combined with the first milk of the mother, gives the calves an immediate boost after birth and means their immune system is fully charged against disease. There also appears to be a positive effect on body condition and growth rates".
ASDA launched CalfLink at the end of 2008 to improve the economic performance of calf rearers operating within its DairyLink and BeefLink supply chains. The scheme, which is proving to be popular across the country, is creating new industry standards in calf production and animal welfare. It gives ASDA DairyLink farmers the option to rear calves on their own farm or supply bull calves to BeefLink farmers for rearing, finishing and incorporating into the supermarket’s standard ASDA beef range.
Through CalfLink, ASDA dairy and beef farmers can also purchase primary ear tags for as little as 0.59p per tag - a significant reduction on the recommended retail price. The decision to develop this discount scheme, established with animal ID company, QuickTag, came after discussions between ASDA and one of its BeefLink farmers.
ASDA farmers interested in purchasing colostrum or milk powder should contact The Calf Company on 01606 869253. The telephone number to call to order ear tags is 028 20768696.
