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Check ups help keep heifers - and herds - healthy

A proactive approach to calf health is another vital link in the chain when it comes to successfully calving heifers at 24 months. Reducing the disease challenge ensures that calves thrive and sets them up for a long and productive herd life.

Calf health is crucial to future production and an important part of keeping herd performance on track is preventing and controlling neonatal calf diarrhoea. Scours in calves will affect future milk production and the animal's persistency in the herd.
Rotavirus, coronavirus and cryptosporidia continue to be significant causal agents in many UK calf scour problems, according to resu1ts from the Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health ScourCheck service.
Tests on calf faecal samples taken from more than 400 farms in 2009 show rotavirus being the most common infectious agent, detected in 36% of samples. Cryptosporidia was found in 29% of samples, coronavirus in 26% and E.coli K99 in 6%.
"The sheer prevalence of these infectious agents in the farm environment, and the ease with which they spread from the calf, means it is vital to keep disease prevention programmes under constant review," says vet Paul Williams. "Evaluating herd and farm management practices, properly diagnosing pathogens, and checking colostrum quality and intake are all essential steps in resolving costly scour problems. And selecting the right prevention and treatment protocol is also critical." Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health is launching a simple five-step approach to tackling any calf scour problems on farm.


Proactive plan
"The first step is to assess the probable causes of scour. Vets and producers needs to focus on the age of animals affected, colostrum management, previous disease history, feeding protocols and housing conditions. This will provide clues to the possible cause or causes of the problem," says Mr Williams. Faecal sampling will help too, if there's an infectious cause implicated in any scour out break.
The third step is to evaluate colostrum intake, by measuring levels of antibodies in the blood.
"And measuring colostrum quality is also important. Using a colostrometer can help determine colostrum antibody content," he says.
"The fifth and final step is to implement prevention and/or treatment protocols. Actions, following diagnosis of the problem, should be taken at three levels.
Colostrum management improvements; prevention measures, such as vaccination with Rotavec-Corona or preventive use of Halocur for the prevention of cryptosporidiosis; and treatment of affected animals."

Calf lodge provides a 'healthy' environment
Bespoke accommodation that helps to ensure that your calves get off to a flying start need not cost the earth - literally. Designed by producers for producers, Solway Recycling's calf lodges reduce losses, caused by poor health, and work load by giving calves a draft free, but well ventilated and natural environment.
The lodges come with an optional front pen, which has external feeding holes that make it more difficult for calves to spill their milk and feed.
The lodges have also been designed to line up in a row, allowing easier management for calves to interact with each other.
The recycled farm waste plastic material, Agriboard, used by the company has already proved extremely robust, durable and easily cleaned in lamb creep feeders, and calf and lambing pens manufactured by the Dumfries-based fum.
A curved roof and pen wall ensure that the calflodge, which has an easy access back door for bedding up and observation, is extremely unlikely to be blown over - even in gale force winds - but it is also light enough to be easily moved to another site. As Agriboard is non-absorbent it can be steam cleaned or pressure washed and so the risk of disease build up and carry over between batches of calves is greatly reduced. Lodges' are sold flat packed and are available in quantities of between one and six per pallet. The manufacturer stresses that they are very easy and quick to build.
One calf lodge, with a front pen, costs ₤248 plus VAT. A bulk discount is available.

Health 'MOT'
The health status of older calves - particularly those that are about to calve and join the milking herd - should also be assessed. "It is vital to carry out a heifer health 'MOT' and to do this well before she's about to calve and join the rest of the milking herd," says Intervet's cattle vet Alasdair King.
Vaccination against BVD with Bovilis BVD, for example, should be carried out when heifers are between 12 and 13 months old and certainly prior to AI or running the bull with them. "Leaving it until after calving increases the risk of an infected or PI calf being born.
"But all too often producers wait until heifers are in calf before they think about BVD or vaccination against other diseases and in some cases this can be too late," says Mr King.
"It's much better to consider health issues within your herd earlier than that and have a planned programme of vaccination in place."
Planning can help to reduce stress levels for producers and equip heifers to combat stress. IBR, for example, can be triggered by stress.
So again vaccination, possibly with Bovilis IBR Marker Live, prior to introducing heifers to the milking herd is important in herds where the virus is present. "If heifers are not vaccinated then they can either go down with the disease or start shedding the virus. It's a little like the cold sore virus. It flares up in times of increased stress."
Mr King has visited units where IBR has been over looked and the stress of a heifer entering the herd has served to 'stir up' the disease in the individual heifer and the rest of the milking herd. "So vaccinate to protect the animal that's under stress - the heifer - and to protect the rest of the herd from 'shedding'."
Mr King says that different herds have different disease issues. "So producers need to talk to their vet to establish what diseases are present on the unit and how they can be best controlled and prevented in heifers - as well as the rest of the herd.
"The key is to protect the heifer from any diseases that may be already present in the herd and to prevent her from passing disease to the established herd."

text Rachael Porter
Cow Management, November 11, 2009
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