Our calf rearing program focuses on ensuring that calves grow healthy, strong, and productive, while minimising the risks of disease and promoting welfare.

Calf rearing programs can be tailored to your farm’s individual needs or concerns. When assessing calf performance, we want to make sure they are meeting the targeted weaning rates and assess the levels of any disease present. This involves an overview of all areas of your calf rearing system.

Housing and Environment

Proper housing and environmental conditions are critical for calf development. Calf Scour accounts for 32% of deaths in calves under one month of age. Respiratory disease is the leading cause of death in calves aged from one to five months, causing over 34% of deaths. The risk factors for both are largely influenced by the environment in which they are being reared.

Bedding, ventilation, stocking density and temperature control are the main areas of focus.

Husbandry

Maintaining the hygiene of calf rearing facilities is imperative to reduce environmental contamination and break the transmission cycle of enteropathogens. Scour is always spread through the mouth, so adequate cleaning and disinfecting of calf feeding equipment and of their accommodation is crucial. Careful management of the environment especially in the calving pens and during the first few weeks of life, whether in pens, hutches or group accommodation can have a major impact on what pathogens a calf may be exposed to.

Colostrum          

Nothing has a greater impact on an animal’s growth rates, productivity, longevity and lifetime yields than its colostrum status.

Colostrum is rich in energy, nutrients and antibodies called immunoglobulins. Calves are born with no immunity, and this source of antibodies is crucial for protection against disease.

Failure of passive transfer occurs when calves do not receive adequate immunoglobulin levels. On a blood samples, immunoglobulin levels <10mg/ml is a partial failure and levels <5mg/ml is a complete failure.

Immediate effects are:

  • Higher susceptibility to pneumonia, scour and septicaemia
  • Increase morbidity and mortality rates
  • Reduced growth rates (110g/day less average daily gain)
  • Increased time to weaning and puberty (an additional 15 days to puberty on average)

Long term effects are:

  • Increases risk of chronic diseases: increased veterinary costs and culling rates
  • Reduced milk production
    • Delayed time until first calving (an additional 18-21 days until first calving)
    • Lower lifetime yield (difference of 804kgs in the first lactation)
    • Less likely to reach second lactation
  • Impaired reproductive performance:
    • Delayed puberty
    • Lower conception rates
    • Longer calving intervals (an additional 30 days on average)

Economic Impact

  • Higher costs;
    • increased rearing costs,
    • increased veterinary costs
    • increased labour input
  • Reduced Profitability
    • Decreased milk yields: by up to 10-20%.
    • Increased calving intervals
    • Earlier culling

How to avoid Failure of Passive Transfer

The five Qs of colostrum management:

Quality: Measure colostrum quality using a colostrometer or a Brix refractometer. Only good quality colostrum (>50g/L of IgG) should be given to calves or stored.

Quantity: Calves should be fed at least 4L (or 10% of bodyweight) of good quality colostrum within 4h of birth.

Quickly: Colostrum concentration decreases by 3.7% each subsequent hour post calving and the calves ability to efficiently absorb colostrum also reduces rapidly.

sQueaky clean: Wash your hands and wear gloves when collecting, storing or giving colostrum to avoid contaminating. Only use clean equipment

Quantify: Routinely blood test calves 1-7 days old for total proteins to assess the successfulness of passive transfer of antibodies.

If you have any concerns about colostrum management on farm, please get in touch. We can provide training on how to monitor colostrum quality and the use of the refractometer, as well as regular visits to monitor your calf’s immunoglobulin levels and check for failure of passive transfer by blood testing sample groups.

Health

Prevention is always preferable to treatment. Screening on the farm for circulating pathogens enables the implementation of a targeted vaccination program.

Rotavirus and Cryptosporidium are the leading causes of scour in neonatal calves, and both can be vaccinated against. If scour is an issue, testing to identify the cause allows for the creation of an appropriate action plan. Scour is responsible for 26% of deaths in calves under one month of age.

The four most common pneumonia pathogens found at post-mortem (Pasteurella Multocida, Histophilus Somni, RSV, and IBR) can all be vaccinated against as well. Methods such as nasal swabs, blood tests, lung scoring, or, when necessary, post-mortem examinations, can be used to investigate pneumonia outbreaks and guide effective action. Pneumonia is responsible for 38.8% of calf deaths from 1-6 months of age.

As a result, vaccination programs can be customised to suit each farm’s system and the specific pathogens present.

Lung scoring

By the time symptoms of pneumonia, such as a runny nose and coughing, become visible, lung damage has often already occurred. This makes treatment more difficult, and the calf may suffer from lasting lung damage. We now understand that underlying lung damage can impact an animal’s lifespan and productivity within the herd. Thoracic ultrasound enables early detection of sub-clinical pneumonia, before significant lung damage sets in. It can also assess the effectiveness of treatment and identify calves with irreversible lung damage.

The main goal is to wean calves with clear, healthy lungs. Upon scanning, each calf is given a lung score from 0-5 to indicate the severity of lung changes as per the University of Wisconsin scoring system. A score of 0 indicates no lung damage, scores of 1 and 2 indicate minor lung damage, and scores of 3, 4, and 5 indicate significant lung damage affecting entire or multiple lobes.

Calves with grade 3,4 or 5 lung lesions will produce 550kg less milk in their first lactation, have a 26% higher chance of dying or being culled before first calving and have a lower conception rate by 10%.

Weaning calves with minimal or no lung damage will lead to a better-growing calf and a more productive adult cow. By working together and using diagnostics, husbandry and appropriate treatments, we can improve animal welfare and increase productivity of your herd.

We can design a schedule that works for your farming system. It is recommended calves are scanned at least twice pre weaning and once after weaning, with an interval of 2-4 weeks.

Parasite Control:

Having a targeted approach to parasite treatment can help reduce costs and increase productivity. Using faecal egg counts allows us to monitor for internal parasites, check for the efficacy of any treatments required and implement preventative measures. Coccidiosis is a major cause of reduced daily liveweight gains (reductions up to 500g per day can be seen) and even death.

Our in-house lab with Ovacyte faecal egg count machine and microscope allows us to provide a fast and comprehensive feedback on dung samples .

By focusing on high-quality colostrum feeding, providing appropriate nutrition, implementing robust disease prevention measures, and maintaining careful health monitoring, we can optimise the growth and development of your calves together. Working with our veterinary team throughout the rearing process ensures that issues are detected early, treated promptly, and prevented in the future. This holistic approach leads to healthier, more productive livestock, ultimately contributing to farm profitability and sustainability.