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The quality of shelter given to heifers during cold weather is vital to their growth rate, performance and overall health.
Less-than-optimal housing conditions expose heifer resting areas to precipitation and wind. These areas quickly become damp and muddy, causing wet, dirty hair coats. Add inadequate resting and feeding space to the equation and you create an environment where heifers are stressed and do not thrive, much less meet growth expectations.
Concentration of IgG in colostrum varies according to many factors, including a cow’s disease history, volume of colostrum produced, season of the year and breed. Research has shown that IgG levels vary widely from one cow to the next and range from less than 20 to over 100 mg per mL.
The difference between 20 and 100 mg per mL of IgG in colostrum can mean the difference between failure and success in passive transfer of immunity in calves. Measurement of IgG concentrations in colostrum can be very useful in managing colostrum quality and monitoring colostrum-feeding practices.
Industry research continues to build, showing the short-term and long-term economic benefits of feeding dairy calves a higher plane of nutrition. What was often considered an expense for a dairy operation in the past decades is now an overlooked opportunity for growing calves faster, stronger, bigger and more productive.
These calves reach desired breeding age sooner, calve in and become part of the milking herd sooner and produce higher volumes of milk as early as their first lactation.
But what about when dairy calves are raised by growers? Obviously, the economic benefits would be no different, but the management decisions and protocols of how to make this a win-win proposition for both the dairy and the grower are significantly different.
During a wet lab at PDPW’s Calf Care workshop this week in Arlington, Wisconsin, Dr. Sheila McGuirk from the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine demonstrated a variety of ways to provide proper care to young calves.
Stillborn calf rates can be as high as 12 to 18 percent on dairy farms. One way to avoid early calf death is to know the signs to watch for just after birth and be able to act in a timely manner.
What if you could predict the potential a heifer may have for reduced milk production due to calf-hood respiratory challenges long before she ever freshened?
Dr. Elizabeth Adams, a consulting veterinarian in California, hopes her research will make it possible someday.
Editor’s note: The following article is the fourth and final article in a series discussing electrolyte formulation and function in calves.
From a clinical evaluation standpoint, it’s fairly easy to gain insights into an animal’s acid-base status from a blood sample.
Add water. Whisk in milk powder. Lift. Carry. Repeat.
This process can carry on and on, and just when a calf feeder thinks they are finished, they are reminded they get to do it all again in a matter of hours.
There is no wonder there has been a movement to automate the calf feeding process – so much so that week-old calves kept in group housing can now literally feed themselves.
Dairy producers fine-tuning their calves’ rations need to keep high-quality starters in the mix to get optimal growth.
That’s according to South Dakota Cooperative Extension Dairy Specialist Alvaro Garcia, who said a report in a recent issue of the Journal of Dairy Science evaluated the effects of milk amounts on dairy heifer calves.
“Khan and collaborators published a review that considered the amount of milk fed and its impact on solid feed intake, weaning and performance,” Garcia said. “This extensive review suggested that limiting milk intake to approximately 1 gallon per day leaves calves hungry and can compromise their growth, health, welfare and future milk production.”
Pasteurizing whole milk has reduced the risk of infection in people and, doubtless, saved millions of lives all over the world. The word “pasteurizing” comes from the name of the inventor, Louis Pasteur, who invented the method of heating milk to kill pathogens and improve human health.
On the dairy and calf ranch, pasteurizers are becoming more popular to improve quality of waste milk for calves. These units are generally large enough to pasteurize all the waste milk fed to calves – often hundreds or thousands of liters.
Researchers have been active in the area of calf early life nutrition and precision feeding older heifers. Higher nutritional levels early and controlled energy, especially post-breeding, have resulted in improved health and performance with lower cost and environmental waste.
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