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Click here to read an update to this article, "What's new(er) in colostrum research?"
The importance of colostrum feeding is well understood by dairy producers and calf raisers. New research is further refining our understanding of the value of colostrum feeding.
Developments in technology are providing new and better tools to manage and implement a colostrum-feeding program. Here is a sampling of some of the new research to help better manage this critical part of the calf’s life.
Dairy producers, calf raisers and allied industry came together last month to focus on the future of the dairy industry – the calves.
“This is where it starts,” said Douglas Braun, DVM, senior veterinarian at Pfizer Animal Health Dairy Veterinary Operations. “The farm’s future for the next year is in the fresh cow. For the next three to five years, it’s in the newborn calf.”
Braun performed a wet lab in getting calves off to the right start at the Dairy Calf and Heifer Conference in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
He stated, “We are still losing 8 percent of calves before we have a chance to wean them.”
Visual appraisal of heifer body condition is important to Matthew London.
The 1,200-head commercial heifer grower strives to achieve optimum body condition at all stages of growth so that heifers leaving the Cleveland, Georgia, farm freshen at 22 to 24 months old.
London’s goal parallels that established by the Dairy Calf & Heifer Association in its Gold Standards II (www.calfandheifer.org/?page=GoldStandardsII).
“Effective vaccine programs for young dairy calves are difficult to develop because of the complex nature of the immature immune system and the complexities of management systems where calves live.”
Pinkeye is an infection that can sneak up on cattle, including dairy replacement heifers. Severe cases can leave lasting eye damage, not to mention performance setbacks.
The bacterium Moraxella bovis is the most common cause of pinkeye. However, other Moraxella species and some viruses also can contribute to pinkeye. Outbreaks among cattle, including heifers, peak in the summer because of increased exposure to ultraviolet light.
Studies have shown significant benefits of a proper colostrum- feeding protocol. These represent the need to rapidly thaw and feed 4 liters/quarts of high-quality colostrum within 30 minutes after a calf is born.
For farms wanting to use their own colostrum, getting a fresh cow milked, or banked colostrum thawed, in that amount of time can be a real challenge.
Respiratory disease is responsible for nearly half of all weaned heifer deaths on U.S. dairy farms.
New benchmarks for pneumonia treatment and mortality rates take aggressive aim at this troubling statistic from the National Animal Health Monitoring System’s Dairy 2007 study.
The benchmarks, established last year in the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association’s Gold Standards II, urge heifer growers nationwide to keep pneumonia treatment rates under 3% for heifers between 6 months old and 12 months old and less than 1% for heifers 12 months old to freshening.
A heifer is your future. Many farmers believe this to be true and have been committed to raising every heifer for their operation.
A lot of cash has been allocated to improve calf management, age at first calving, reproduction and genetics. But times are changing and heifer management will need to follow.
If you look at the last 90 years, we have increased the number of dairy heifers. In Figure 1 we can see that up to about 1960, the inventory of heifers above 500 lbs was about 20 to 25 percent of the cow herd.
Feeding and management practices of dairy calves directly impact not only their survival, but as importantly, their future milk production.
Recent studies which have followed calves through their first lactation have shown a positive relationship between early life nutrient intake and first-lactation milk production. In addition, new research has shown additional benefits of proper colostrum intake on calf health.
Sick calves are no fun. At the beginning of July, my research group started a study with sixty newborn bull calves from commercial dairy farms. Our objective was to find combinations of milk replacer and starter grain additives that promote calf performance and health in the absence of medicated milk replacer.
Let’s take a look at some of the reasons for calf scours, strategies to prevent it, and protocols to treat calves when these challenges arrive at a calf hutch near you.
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