It is important for calf health that milk is delivered at the right speed to optimise digestive health and performance.
As a teat ages, the rubber becomes softer and milk flow increases. As a calf approaches weaning the more developed digestive system can manage this slightly increased flow but for young calves, a faster flow impacts health and can result in cross suckling, nutritional scours and poor performance.
For best results, we recommend you start each new calf with a new Calf Buddy™ Teat and keep this teat with this calf until weaning.

How long will my teats last?

We have very strict quality control and only accept teats that perform at 20 hours on our feeding simulator. 20 hours is around 10 weeks or 140 feeds.
Any more than that, and it’s to hard for the calves to drink, any less and the teats don’t last, it’s a finely tuned process!
Depending on what system you use on your farm will determine how long your teats will last.
If you feed individually and use the one teat per calf, then your teats will last from birth till weaning. If you use one teat for multiple calves, then you will need to change the teats more often.

The calves will tell you when the teats have become soft and need replacement. As the milk flow increases they will start to suck on each other or their surroundings (cross suckling). As soon as you start to see cross suckling, change your teats to prevent the next stage of fast flow which is diarrhoea.

How do I change my teats?

Calf Buddy™ Teats have a pull through design to sit snugly against the feeder wall for optimum hygiene. This is the most hygienic connection system, and with the 1 Click connection, it is also easy to change.

Inserting a new teat:

1. Connect the teat to the Calf Buddy™ Connector, making sure the teat and connectors line up.
2. Pull the teat through the hutch bucket.
3. Using an up and down motion, pull the teat through the bucket until you hear the 'click'.
4. Finally, be sure to check the teat alignment is correct and the slit is vertical!

Removing a worn teat:

1. Place your hand inside the bucket and pull the connector upwards until it disconnects from the teat.
2. Remove the worn teat and discard it.
3. Wash the connector and insert it into a new Calf Buddy™ Teat. So easy!

Milk is a difficult substance to clean off of surfaces. You need hot water to remove the fat, but the heat can bake the protein onto the surface. Using warm water to get rid of the protein leaves a film of fat. When fats and proteins stick to the surface of equipment, they form a biofilm, a nutrient-rich layer in which bacteria grow.
The biofilm protects bacteria from the cleaning process and results in equipment that appears clean but has bacteria on the surface. The cleaning process not only needs to remove fat and protein from surfaces but prevent the formation of a biofilm.

Calf Buddy™ Teats are made from a natural rubber. Natural rubber absorbs the milk fat and protein which causes the teats to become softer. Using an Alkali Detergent a few times a week with strip the milk fat and protein from the rubber so your calves can enjoy the controlled flow for longer.

Calf Buddy™ Teats do not need to be removed from the bucket for cleaning.

1. Rinse your teats with water.
2. Use an NON-CHLORINATED Alkali detergent, following the manufacturers instructions.
3. Using a brush, lightly scrub the outside of the teats making sure to bend the teats. By bending the teats, any milk gets pushed back inside the feeder so the detergent can make contact with the inside of the teat wall.
4. Rinse clean.

For replacement teats, Calf Buddy™ Teats come in packs of 10. Code 900000

If you lose connectors, you can buy them in separate packs. Calf Buddy™ Connectors come in packs of 10: Code 900001

When you are installing Calf Buddy for the first time, you can use the Calf Buddy™ Teat and Connector Pack. This pack comes in a pack of 10 teats and 10 connectors: Code 900002

Calf Buddy™ Teats are made from a natural rubber with no synthetic or oil based rubber.

PCT Patent Application NZ2020/050110 International Patents pending.