Main milk mixing error is a too low concentration

The most common milk mixing error is a mistake in the concentration of the milk. The advice is to add 150 g of milk powder for every liter of milk. However, it is very easy to make the understandable mistake of mixing 150 g of milk powder with one liter of water. This will increase the total quantity of milk because the 150 g of powder will increase the volume of the final mix. In 10 liters of mixed milk there should be 1.5 kg of powder. If you add those 1.5 kg to 10 liters of water, the overall outcome is around 11 liters of mixed milk. The effect is that the concentration is not 150 g, but about 135 g per liter of mixed milk. Calves will not achieve the growth target you expect and the calf’s resistance can decrease due the lower dry matter intake of the milk powder. Also, you will have 1 liter of excess milk to put somewhere.

Tips are:

• Mix 150g milk powder to produce one liter of powdered milk by following our 3 step approach to make milk mixing easy.
  1. Take ½ the required amount of water at 45-50°C
  2. Add the correct quantity of Denkamilk per liter of mixed milk. Whisk vigorously for 1 minute or mix in the mixer for 3 minutes.
  3. Top up with water to the required amount of mixed milk at 41-42°C drinking temperature.

• Weigh now and then the amount of powder you add. Have you actually added the amount you intended?
• Check your water temperature. Water of 45-50°C will make it much easier to mix the milk and it will prevent excess foam.

Check our feeding charts for more tips on perfecting your milk mixing and calf rearing procedures

Download the feeding charts here

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