Calf & Youngstock

Calves are born with no immunity and rely on colostrum to gain immunity against disease, with colostrum being the first feed, cleanliness is so important. By following simple steps and putting hygiene protocols in place you can minimise the risk of disease in calves.

Pneumonia is a common major issue, which is estimated to cost the UK cattle industry over £50 million each year. Early identification, treatment and prevention protocols are essential for the animal’s growth performance and of course your pocket!

The survival of replacement calves and heifers, the subsequent survival of lactating dairy cows in each lactation and the efficient conversion of feed into milk, all contribute to the environmental impact of dairy production.

The benefits of feeding a high fat milk replacer:

1. Additional energy, for every 5% increase in oil the energy density of the powder is increased by 6%.
2. 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. 
3. 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. 

Over 70% of the calf’s immune system is housed in the gut. So, a healthy microbiome regulates and promotes good immune function. Good bacteria also compete with harmful pathogens in the young gut. Disruptions to the gut microbiome can impact health and cause issues like dysbiosis and scour.

Calves are more susceptible to cold stress than older animals. This is because they have lower body fat reserves and a larger surface area to body mass ratio which causes them to lose body heat more rapidly.

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.