Our Solutions for Calf Milk Replacer
In a market where performance, cost-efficiency, and nutritional precision are key, formulating high-quality calf milk replacers (CMRs) has become a significant challenge.
At Roquette, we support you with a wide range of plant-based products to help you achieve high-quality CMRs.
Meeting the Demands of Calf Nutrition
Calf milk replacers are essential in early-life nutrition, providing young calves with the proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals they need to thrive. For producers, the goal is to replicate the nutritional and physical properties of whole milk, while optimizing formulation costs and processing performance. This is why the demand for calf milk replacers has grown significantly in recent years.
A proper calf milk substitute should have physical, chemical, and nutritional characteristics comparable to milk (flowability, density, homogeneity, and palatability). It also must meet recommendations for animal energy and nutrient supply. Milk replacers should therefore contain the ingredients needed to provide the appropriate protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. And just like dairy milk, they must dissolve readily in water to ensure ease of feeding and optimal nutrient delivery.
To meet these complex formulation requirements, Roquette, with our extensive knowledge and experience in plant-based nutrition, supports your formulations with a diverse range of high-performing ingredients:
- Highly digestible plant proteins, such as Hydrolyzed wheat protein CWS, GLUTALYS® corn protein, and LYSAMINE® GPS pea protein
- Energy sources from native starches, dextrose, and maltodextrins, with dextrose monohydrate and GLUCIDEX®
Our Proteins
Cost-effective ingredients combining quality and performance.
Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein CWS is a premium-quality protein concentrate from wheat, developed to replace dairy proteins in formulations for the most sensitive animals. White, soluble, and highly digestible, it offers a safe and consistent nutritional profile, produced through a secure process free from contaminants.
With low fiber and ash content, this protein delivers a significantly higher protein concentration than whey protein concentrate. It ensures:
- Protein enrichment for high-performance formulations
- Excellent digestibility to support early-life development
- Excellent solubility for easy dispersion in water
Free from anti-nutritional factors, it is particularly well-suited for high-protein formulations aimed at maximizing calf growth and feed efficiency.
In specific calf-rearing systems, some of our other proteins can be used as alternative protein sources.
GLUTALYS® corn protein provides a valuable source of energy-rich, digestible protein, while LYSAMINE® GPS pea protein isolate offers a highly purified alternative with excellent amino acid balance. These plant-based options offer flexibility in formulation while supporting nutritional performance and cost optimization.
Our Carbohydrates
Reliable energy sources supporting early-life nutrition.
Dextrose Monohydrate is a crystallized form of glucose and a key ingredient in calf milk replacers, especially as an alternative to lactose, which typically makes up 40–50% of formulations. With dairy prices fluctuating, dextrose offers a cost-effective carbohydrate source that supports consistent energy intake and is fully assimilable by young animals.
Highly soluble and easy to disperse in water, Roquette’s Dextrose ensures smooth feeding and immediate energy availability. It also acts as a sweetener and flavor enhancer, improving the palatability of finished products thanks to its sweet flavor (approximately 75% as sweet as sucrose). Its functional benefits include high digestibility, palatability improvement, and its use as a soluble excipient in feed specialties.
Roquette studies have demonstrated that high levels of dextrose in calf diets can deliver growth performance and carcass quality equivalent to dairy-based rations. As Europe’s leading supplier of dextrose, we combine product efficiency with reliable logistics and technical support to meet the evolving needs of animal nutrition professionals.
Our Maltodextrins
Alternative sugars designed for optimised calf feeding.
GLUCIDEX® maltodextrins offer a versatile solution for calf milk replacers, especially during the early stages of life. As the European leader in maltodextrin production for baby milk and sports nutrition, we bring our expertise to animal nutrition with ingredients that deliver both zootechnical and functional benefits.
In feed applications, maltodextrins act as energy sources, while also serving as texturizers, carriers, thickeners, and binders.
These properties contribute to improved product structure, stability, and palatability, which are key factors in early-life feeding strategies. Their neutral taste and smooth texture make them particularly well-suited for sensitive formulations.
With GLUCIDEX®, Roquette supports the development of high-performance calf milk replacers that meet both nutritional and processing demands.