A sheep farmer’s daughter from Mid Cornwall; Laura plays a large part in the sheep enterprises at home – breeding and selling pedigree Charolais and Texel sheep. Alongside this, the farm is involved in rearing beef cross dairy calves to be sold at stores.
Laura has gained almost 10 years of relief milking experience on a number of different systems from three-times a day high input to spring calving grass-based herds. Laura studied at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester and graduated with an honour’s degree in Agricultural Management with specific modules in Advanced Livestock Production.
Her studies and hands-on experience have given her a firm understanding of the end requirements of the calves in varying systems.
Scour (Rotavirus coronavirus) in calves is quickly spread via the faecal-oral route, therefore removing sick calves from the group as soon as possible not only limits the spread of disease but makes them easier to treat. By leaving these clinically sick calves in the pen you risk the rest of the group suffering sub-clinically. These sub-clinical symptoms may not be as visible but will be an underlying contributor to poor performance. Isolated calves should remain separated from the main herd even after symptoms have subsided as they will still be shedding oocysts.
Additional energy, for every 5% increase in oil the energy density of the powder is increased by 6%.
Reduced scours, energy in milk replacer comes from either fat or carbohydrate (oil or lactose), high fat milk replacers have lower lactose, naturally lowering their osmolality and reducing incidence of scour.
Improved resilience, during periods of stress, disease challenge or low temperatures the calf’s energy requirement increases. Calves have very little body fat stored and rely on a constant supply of energy meaning increased requirements are more easily met with a high fat milk replacer.
Clostridial disease management is a common topic in sheep farming with most of the UK’s flock vaccinated before lambing for prevention through passive transfer, but it is not given much thought by calf rearers.
There are multiple clostridial diseases that can affect cattle, however, the most common type of toxic intestine infections in young calves are caused by Clostridium perfringens. These differ from other scour-causing pathogens (E. coli, crypto, cocci) in that calves rarely show any signs of ill thrift and may not even scour before the toxins enter the blood steam followed by inflammation, shock and cardiac arrest.
Ask a farmer what coccidiosis is, and he or she will inherently mention ‘blood scour’. Are they right?
Yes and no.
Coccidia are species-specific, single-celled organisms of the protozoan family. An infected host (e.g. lamb/calf) will shed billions of coccida oocysts in their environment. These oocysts are extremely resilient and can persist across seasons. As a result, it is almost inevitable that commercially farmed animals will be exposed to coccidia.
Improving the lifetime yield of a cow is a top priority in dairy businesses as we continue to improve efficiencies. This can be impacted from the moment a newborn heifer calf arrives, to when the animal enters the parlour at the start of its first lactation.
While there are lots of areas to focus on to set a heifer up for a healthy and productive life in the herd, I’ve narrowed it down to my top three areas to prioritise pre-calving.
Whether it is beef or dairy it is important to grow calves efficiently to meet slaughter weights sooner. Standard target weights of pre-weaning weights are greater than >0.7kg/day and post-weaning DLWG of >0.8kg/day - >1.0kg/day for dairy or beef respectively.
We expect our calves to be able to cope and adapt to shifts in their nutrition throughout the pre-weaning phase, the first being from colostrum to whole milk/milk replacer and the last being from liquid to solid feed. Weaning is without doubt one of the biggest transformations the Gastrointestinal tract (GIT) will undergo and therefore understanding when and how we can best manage this juncture to avoid growth checks and impaired GIT health is important to the productivity of our calves.
Colostrum is a hot topic in calf rearing and rightly so. Feeding 10% of the calf’s bodyweight in high-quality colostrum as quickly as we can ensures the greatest level of Ig absorption. However, the biological role of colostrum extends far beyond the transfer of immunity.
Two thirds of all joint ill cases are caused by the bacteria Streptococcus Dysgalactiae – the same bacteria that causes mastitis in cows. The other third of cases are preventable through adequate colostrum uptake.
Weaning can be considered a simple change from milk feeding to solid feeding but in truth it is a balancing act between maximising early feed efficiency and managing rumen development.
