Back at the start of 2023, the acronym ‘CALF HEALTH’ was chosen by the calf and youngstock team to base their newsletter articles on. Each letter represented a topic that contributed towards improving calf health.
Calf housing is a critical aspect of any dairy or livestock operation, and the choice of housing design can have a profound impact on the health and well-being of your calves. To optimise calf performance and minimise the incidence and spread of disease, there are key requirements for calf housing that must be considered.
Calf housing is a huge part of calf health and welfare, it can be the change that many systems need to improve their calf rearing. In September, DEFRA launched a £10 million infrastructure grant to fund calf housing, available to new and upgraded calf housing. Improvements such as ventilation, protection from draughts, and suitable temperature and humidity will be key areas to focus on.
Good ventilation systems are essential to reduce respiratory disease in the first months of a calf’s life.
It is estimated that the cost of pneumonia per sick calf is £42.26, with an additional cost of £29.58 per calf for the in-contact group. In turn, this reduces feed efficiency, growth rates, organ development, future milk production and an increased mortality risk before calving.
The transfer of passive immunity in calves is defined as “the absorption of the maternal immunoglobulin, present in colostrum through the small intestine of the calf, during the first 24 hours after birth. Calves are born without any acquired immunity due to the placental structure of the cow and therefore, rely entirely on passive transfer. The colostrum absorbed by the calf activates and regulates the innate responses enabling the calf to fight infection.
With animal welfare becoming an ever-increasing concern for the consumer and becoming more prominent in dairy contracts. Recent research has highlighted the importance of physical enrichment for calves in their environment. Studies from University of Reading suggest that pen enrichment can promote natural behaviours, reduce stress and frustration amongst calves (Mason and Burn, 2011).
Giving calves more choice in how to express natural behaviours, will boost their welfare as well as highlighting any potential calf health implications earlier, with calves in poorer health tending to not utilising enrichment methods as much; this ultimately leads to better overall health and performance. Offering choice accommodates individual differences in their behaviours, and can give greater insights into how to detect illness by observing changes in behaviour.
When environmental change occurs, it can have a short and long term negative effect on calf health and performance, however there are periods of time where change will be inevitable and out of our control such as humidity, air speed, temperature etc.
Although we cannot eradicate the risk completely, we can implement cost effective management strategies within the housing environment to help minimise disease incidence, reduce stress, and promote feed intake during the rearing and weaning period.
Calving is a stressful time for both cow and calf. This can suppress a cow’s immune system and calves are born without any immunity leaving them both susceptible to infections. One of the key ways in which to minimise health risks and optimise health and performance (for both cow and calf) is to assess hygiene in and around the calving pen.
Whether cows calving in individual or group pens, good hygiene should always be mandatory for your calf pens. This will help reduce naval infections, joint ill and reduce risk of scours for calves as well as helping to reduce mastitis and uterine infections in the cow, allowing her to be more productive in the following lactation.
Calves have little to no immunity when they are born and therefore rely on colostrum in order to obtain immunoglobulins to fight pathogens they may encounter. If calves have little immunity it means that they are more susceptible to picking up diseases and becoming ill. In order to ensure that there is minimal risk of bacterial infection and to keep your calves healthy, we must pay attention to cleaning and sanitising equipment, ascontaminated feed can be a major risk to young calves.
Automatic calf machines are becoming an increasingly popular option for rearing calves, and although they are a great option when it comes to saving labour, there are some manual tasks that must be carried out in order to achieve optimum calf health.
Keeping teats clean on any feeder or the cows when harvesting colostrum is so important to reduce the build up of bacteria, this helps greatly with producing a strong, healthy calf. I always think that if you wouldn’t drink/ eat from it then why should the calf have to?
Residues from calf colostrum, milk or milk replacer are great places for pathogens to grow from. According to Dr. Sam Leadley, Attica Veterinary Associates, the goal of cleaning and sanitizing calf feeding equipment is to control bacterial growth by removing them from surfaces, killing any that remain, removing their food and water sources, and lowering the pH to prevent further growth.
