Your calves, your future

Paying attention to detail when calf rearing to reap rewards

Today's heifer calves are tomorrow's income providers and deserve to be treated as such. Feeding and housing should both be carried out with care and attention. Treat your calves like newborn babies. Here a calf health specialist and a nutritionist share some tips on 'best practice' for the first few weeks of life.
There are some who believe that we have almost 'bred out' mothering ability from the modern dairy cow and, as such, we cannot rely on her to ensure adequate colostrum intake by her newborn calf.
One such believer is Liverpool Vet School's calf specialist Dai Grove-White. "It is well established that adequate consumption of good quality colostrum is imperative for calf health. Yet it has been demonstrated countless times that leaving the cow and calf together for up to 24 hours, or longer, will not ensure adequate colostrum intake," he says. "This means that we must supply colostrum to the calf and not leave it up to the dam. The simple rule of thumb is to give three litres of colostrum - from the first milking only - within six hours of birth."
He adds that feeding colostrum within six hours can be easily achieved if a system is in place to facilitate it. "Having a bucket milking machine, which is kept in the calving area and used to quickly milk three litres of colostrum for the calf to be fed by stomach tube or teat, rules out waiting until the next milking.
"Once the calf has had the colostrum, move it to a clean pen that has been washed and disinfected. Many producers feed calves for the first few days on pooled colostrum. But this is the perfect recipe for spreading Johne's disease," warns Dr Grove-White.
"If colostrum is fed during this period it should either be from the dam only or pasteurised."

Waste milk
Similar comments apply to feeding waste milk: "It should not be done unless it's pasteurised. Stored buckets of milk or colostrum are the perfect culture for the growth of bacteria - not good to feed to baby calves. It's far better to use a high quality milk replacer from day one," he adds.
Feeding a calf mille replacer (CMR) twice a day is still the most popular method of feeding calves, but it is declining fast. "Ensuring calves are fed at the same time each day improves digestion and, to help reduce the incidence of scours, it is preferabie to use a teat to feed the calves instead of a bucket," says Bonanza Calf Nutrition's Joe Murphy.
"Trials have shown that heifer calves that are well-fed prior to weaning pro duce between 1,200 litres and 1,300 litres more milk per lactation, have a calving interval that is between 10 and 30 days shorter and stay in the herd for one more lactation compared to poorly fed or immune compromised animais.
"And for the same reason calves should receive at least 600g of powder or milk solids per day. The idea of trying to save money on milk feeding has been shown in recent trials to be more costly in the long term as heifers take longer to calve and join the herd and performance is also poorer," adds Mr Murphy.
Besides growth, fighting infections also requires energy and pre-weaned calves need all the help they can get.
"Avoiding infection is the next challenge after growth and there are three sources of pathogens that can cause scours and septicaemia to be aware of: the dam, via her faeces; the calving area; and calf housing," according to Dr Grove-White. "It is not difficult to keep calves healthy and disease free if you follow certain guidelines. 'Snatch calving' ensures that the calf is removed within six hours of birth.
"Ideally this should be within one hour or less. And the calving area and the calf pen should also be clean."
Dry-cow housing should also be clean and regularly bedded down with plenty of straw. "Ask yourself, would you let a baby lie on the bedding? If the answer is 'no', then you need to keep your dry cows cleaner.
"This is also a major factor in controlling environmental mastitis. Approximately 60% of cases of mastitis that occur within the first three months of calving are due to infection picked up during the dry period, so ensuring good hygiene at this stage pays dividends in terms of calf health and mastitis.
"A good tip is to put a 10cm deep layer of sand below the straw - this will keep the bed drier and reduce the rate at which bacteria multiply," adds Dr Grove-White.

Once-a-day feeding
Another tip, this time from Joe Murphy, is to feed calves just once a day using a high quality skim-based milk replacer. "Calves are more content and have fewer health problems compared to twice-a-day or ad-lib fed calves.
"Trial work has also shown that calves eat more dry feed, have dryer bedding and perform better both before and after weaning," he says.
"Clean fresh water should also always be available. This is essential for rumen development, as is a good quality creep feed that should be available fiom two or three days of age."
"House and feed your calves properly, giving plenty of attention to detail, will pay dividends," adds Dr Grove-White. "Get your heifers off to a flying start and make the most of their potential.
"Get them milking earlier - and better - and guarantee a productive future for your herd and your business."

text Allison Matthews
Cow Management, November 11, 2009
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