The Wynnstay Calf and Youngstock section of the AgriHub is written by specialist in the field. Our lambing news and advice is created to prepare you for the lambing season, making sure that not only is you lambing shed ready but also both lamb and ewe health is managed.
Our team of calf specialists are highly experienced in the field of calf rearing, their blog posts offer calf rearing advice and news for both dairy and beef farmers. Our calf news section looks at calf housing, feeding and health. It also offer advice on how to improve profits and margins on farm.
The weather is getting cooler and you don’t want your calves to experience cold stress. Calves' lower critical temperature is 15ºc, so you don’t want them to be putting energy into keeping warm instead of growth and keeping healthy.
Cold Stress in newborn calves significantly decreases the rate of absorption of immunoglobulins up to 15 hours after first feed of colostrum making them more susceptible to certain diseases. Also putting energy into keeping warm instead of growing results in lower growth rates.
Housing challenges often compromise calf rearing performance, but attention to detail in areas such as nutrition and hygiene can help offset these weaknesses.
Recently, a project team based at AFBI Hillsborough recorded a variety of different housing systems on commercial farms in Northern Ireland. The study was representative of practices on UK dairy units as a whole and certainly highlighted both strengths and weaknesses in terms of replacement heifer calf management practices.
In recent years there has been a significant push to calve heifers younger to become more efficient. The benefits of this have been well documented including significantly reducing rearing costs, which account as one of the largest costs on farm.
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.
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.
Two thousand years ago Hippocrates stated that “All disease begins in the gut”. Science research has now recognized that gut health is paramount to calf health.
Calf diarrhea is still a big challenge on so many UK dairy farms; unfortunately, it is often also a gateway disease to other issues, increasing the risk of pneumonia by eight times. Precision Microbes believes “all health begins in the gut” so, we are revolutionizing the gut health market with a unique probiotic and postbiotic liquid.
Life without TB no doubt would make farming a happier, more profitable experience for many of us. Saying this some have adapted within their areas and founded their businesses due to the disease, but we still need to aim to reduce the total number herds under restriction.
Diarrhoea in the young calf is a commonly occurring challenge on many farms. Recent research by MSD Animal Health, completed as part of their Youngstock Survey, indicated that 90% of dairy farms had experienced scour in calves in the previous 12 months and that over 65% had experienced mortality due to scour. Diarrhoea is reported as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in early life, which can result in significant economic losses and potential welfare challenges.
A team approach involving calf rearers, vets and nutritionists are central to the successful management of scours. Sharing ideas in order to develop a common approach, with clear protocols, can really support consistent management on the farm.
Salmonella infection can have serious economic consequences on farm, presenting itself in a multitude of different ways and also posing a zoonotic risk to humans.
There are several different groups of Salmonella, only two of which we can vaccinate for (Salmonella Dublin and Salmonella Typhimurium). We often see issues with Salmonella infections in youngstock and taking the time to assess the risks on your own farm can help identify if improvements can be made to reduce the spread of the disease.
Whether a dairy or beef herd, the ultimate goal of rearing is to get calves off to the best possible start to ensure they reach their maximum production potential.
Exposure to challenges, for example, scours or respiratory disease can eat into farm profits by negatively impacting calves’ health status and physical performance. Calf rearers are encouraged to uphold good management practices in order to effectively avoid diseases occurring in the first place.
