Christina Savage farms with her brother Hayden Jenkins and parents Roger and Dorothy at Treworgie on the Lizard, Cornwall. They milk 260 Holsteins through four Lely A5 robots on an all-year calving system, averaging 12100 litres.

The family worked with Advanced Ruminant Nutrition (ARN) during the transition to a new robotic system, and Christina invited their heifer rearing manager, Liz Newman, to audit the youngstock.

Looking beyond growth rates
“For us, the future depends on rearing resilient heifers that last in the herd,” explains Liz. “That means more than simply hitting target weights at calving. We take a whole-farm approach, looking at immunity, growth, and overall health at every stage of development. Every farm is different, so we start by understanding its unique goals and management system, then shape youngstock growth to fit the herd’s needs.”

When Liz began working with Christina, they worked together to help improve growth rates. A full audit was carried out, pinpointing bottlenecks and setting out both short and long term development goals. “We didn’t just look at short term fixes for growth rates, we took a step back, thinking about how to build the right foundations for the future,” says Christina.

Practical changes with real impact
One of the first priorities was to look at the nutrition to target the right growth. 

The calf milk replacer was switched to a skim-based powder with a strong vitamin and mineral pack to support immunity. The weaning plan was adjusted to encourage earlier starter intakes, driving rumen development and steady post-weaning growth.

Diets were carefully formulated with increased protein levels to target structure and frame growth for calves up to six months. Post six months minerals were formulated to balance the farm’s forages to strengthen immune function as well as support growth through better rumen development.

Hygiene and early-life management also came under the spotlight. Passive transfer testing was introduced to ensure colostrum protocols aided immunity. More frequent cleaning of the calving pen, with disinfectants and biocides, helped cut disease pressure at birth. 

Crucially, the whole team was involved in these changes. Liz and Christina worked with everyone responsible for calf rearing to run through protocols, ensuring the system was practical, consistent, and understood. Regular monitoring of growth, health, and costings provided clear feedback, showing progress and highlighting where further tweaks could be made.

“The protocols are simple to follow, which makes a big difference,” says Christina. “Liz also introduced colostrum testing to check calves have sufficient levels, which has been really handy.”

Everyone knows their role, and the improvements they’ve seen in calf health and growth rates prove that working as a whole farm team is the key. Monthly heifer reports give ongoing insight into DLWG, health status, and progress against targets. Liz is regularly on farm, so she combines these data insights with what she sees firsthand in the calves and what she hears from the team. “She doesn’t just send us numbers,” says Christina. “She listens, observes, and helps us problem-solve on the spot. That makes the data much more meaningful, and it gives us confidence that the decisions we make are the right ones for the herd.”

A culture of continual improvement
Beyond routine monitoring, the Advanced Ruminant Nutrition (ARN) team also support Treworgie Farm in exploring new opportunities. When Christina and Hayden considered upgrades to their calf sheds, Liz arranged visits to other farms so they could see different systems before deciding.

“If we’re looking at new areas, ARN are always there with the information we need,” says Christina. “That includes involving our wider team, with everyone contributing their skills, from stocking rates to forage availability and other factors affecting youngstock and the wider farm.”

Results that speak for themselves
Since working with Liz and the ARN Heifer Team, Treworgie Farm has seen clear improvements in daily liveweight gain, reduced the need for interventions in young calves and greater confidence in the future herd. Growth rates have improved by 82% and fertility is on track to improve the age of first calving. Heifer production has improved, also due to the transition onto a new robotic milking system. Table 1 shows the improvements over a 2 year period.

Post weaning diet – the changes to the diet increased the cost, however the improvements it had on growth rates, meant that cost of DLWG reduced.

“It’s easy to get complacent sometimes and whilst issues might not seem big, if we keep on top of things continually then we achieve the best for our heifers. Christina and her team are fantastic at keeping on top of things and their attention to detail really shows,” concludes Liz.