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By Jolly Kabirizi
- Harvest and wilt (to reduce moisture content) green and healthy sweet potato vines.
- Chop wilted sweet potato vines into 5 cm lengths and air-dry.
- Mill-chopped, air-dried vines into powder.
- Mix milled sweet potato vines with maize bran, fish meal and mineral powder.
Composition of partial milk substitute
| Ingredient | Inclusion level (%) |
| Milled sweet potato vines | 40 |
| Maize bran | 50 |
| Fish meal | 9 |
| Dairy mineral lick | 1 |
| Total (%) | 100 |
Feeding sweet potato vine-based diet as partial milk substitute to calves
| Period (days after calving) | Feeding regime for a calf |
| Day 1 to 5 | 6 litres/day (depending on the weight of the calf) of colostrum |
| Day 6-15 | 4 litres/day of milk |
| Day 16-70 | Reduce milk offered to the calf by 1 litre every 14 days until weaning |
| Provide high quality pastures (a mixture of pasture grass and forage legume hay) | |
| Provide a calf 1 kg/day of Sweet Potato Vine-Based Diet as Partial Milk Substitute Offer the partial milk substitute as a composite marshto replace milk reduction. A single dose of Sulfamide bolus is given to a calf two weeks after introduction of the Partial Milk Substituteto prevent nutritional scours. | |
| Day 70 | Wean the calf |
Feed the calf in a pen with clean grass bedding and provide clean water all the time.
