Dairy herd health & Milk replacement (Donovan) Flashcards
5 Cs of Dairy calf raising
- Colostrum
- Cleanliness
- Comfort
- Calories
- Consistency
DZs when a dirty calving environment
- diarrhea
- naval ill
Newborn Calves (birth to 2-4 hours)
primary concerns
- colostrum
- naval health
Colostrum management
- Time of admin (ASAP: w/in first 2 hours)
- Mass of Ig (quality X quantity)
Holstein calves typically get up and nurse in….
6-8 hours
Calves rarely have failure of passive transver (FPT) if they receive…
> 280 g of Ig
Good quality colostrum contains
> 50 g/L Ig
Excellent quality colostrum contains
> 70 g/L Ig
Calves need ____ of good quality colostrum or
_____ of excellent quality colostrum
5-6
4
Colostrometer
Glass, costs about 100$
Brixs refractometer
Costs about 300$ shouldn’t break
Good quality colostrum on Brix refractomoter:
Excellent quality colostrum on Brix refractometer:
Good: > 22%
Excellent: > 25%
colostrum admin schedule
- 2-3 L ASAP after birth
- 2-3 L within 4-6 hrs of 1st feeding
Assessing colostrum
TP: serum total protein
DZ if FPT
- diarrhea
- respiratory
- naval ill
Navel Disinfection
Products
- 7% strong iodine soln (no longer available)
- chlorhexidine solution
- Tamed iodine products
Navel Disinfection time line
- repeated when calf is put in its pen
- repeated 12-18 hours later
New born calves should be (< 12 hours after birth)
- identified wtih a unique ID system (ear tag)
- removed from the dam
- placed in individual housing
Housing requirements of the calf
- Clean and dry
- Good (natural) ventilation
- Prevention of calf-to-calf contact
Traditional housing types
- hutch
- barn
- hybrid
Hutch
- long rows for ease feeding
- > 2 hutch spacing
- move every 3-4 days in wet weather
- move every 10 days in dry weather
- fly strike
- clip turf
Calf barn
- no bueno
- ping-pong diarrhea
hutches under a roof
best of both worlds
Group housing
- consumer perception
Group Housing
Milk delivery
Ad lib
Mechanized
Group sizes
- < 21 d : < 10-12 calves
- 21-56d : 40-50
challenges of group housing
- infectious disease control
- ID of sick calves
Milk feeding period
Birth to 4-8 weeks
- fresh (pasteurized) milk or high quality milk substitute
- feed at least twice a day to reduce digestive disturbance
- feed out of an open-faced bucket (not a nipple or bottle or nipple pail)
During the milk feeding period at least….
twice a day for
- diarrhea
- septicemia
- pneumonia
All feeding equiptment must be cleaned and sanitized ….
after every use
One month old calves
- dehorn with cautery (more use paste in first 12-24 hours)
- 7-way Clostridium vaccine (prev. dz and bloat)
- Vaccinate with IBR/P13/BVD/BRSV (4 of the most important resp viruses of cows)
- Vaccines - twice: 2-3 weeks apart
weaning happens at…
4-8 weeks
You should not perform stressfull procedures…
1 week either side of weaning
over 95 % of calves die
in first 90 days
Big consideration of group housing for weanlings
fly control
Dz related to poor fly control
pink eye
