The most important elements of calf care in the perinatal period Flashcards
Etology of calves
• Calf ≠ miniature adult cattle
o Differentbehaviour
o Completely different housing
o Specific needs
• Spends most of the day resting
• Main instinct: suckling ->assessment of overall health
• Very social, curious animals -> housing
• Prey animal, when cornered, tries to run/back away -> fixation
What do we have to do with them?
• Postpartum treatments
• Feeding
• Tagging
• Dehorning
• Examination
• Taking samples
• Treatments
o Givingmedication
▪ po./iv./im./sc.
o Opening abscesses, putting on a cast, antiparasitic treatment etc.Restriction/fixation
• In it’s pen, preferably in a corner
• Ask for help, if needed
• Dangers: hurts you, hurts itself
o Traumatic injuries usually happen in calves when they try to escape
• Anaelgesia/sedation can be used
o After a certain age, it is mandatory for painful procedures (EU)
o Procedures that can be done without anaelgesia (Depends on the country!)
▪ Disbudding, removal of extra teats in the first few days
▪ Blood sampling, esophageal feeder insertion
▪ Ear tagging
▪ Opening abscesses
• Get them to stand up, or lie down if needed (see video)
• You can grab them by BOTH ears, but don’t pull on them!
• You can sit on them, to keep them from standing up
• Push them against a flat surface
• Push their head out their pens, and stand behind them
• Ask someone to „hug” them against their chest
Perinatal period
Very important time period!
Neonate animal: until 2 weeks old
Perinatal period: from around birth to 48-72 h
Postnatal period: until weaning
Mortality
• Perinatal: 5-10%
o Most perinatal deaths happen in the first 1 hour
• Postnatal: 4-5%
Examination of a newborn calf
• Is it stillborn? If so, assess the age of the fetus
• Any congenital defects?
• Trauma: usually happens if too much force was used for extraction
o Fractured ribs, vertebrae
o Intractranialhaemorrhage
o Liverrupture
• Edema
• Indirect: impairment of fetal circulation
o In case of prolonged parturition, the pressure on the umbilical cord reduces blood flow -> severe acidosis, possibly death results
• Hypoxia
o Prolonged parturition, impairment of fetal circulation -> decreased blood flow -> acidosis, hypoxaemia, hypercapnia • Indicating signs
o Meconium staining on fur
o Lowvitality
• Assesment: Modified Apgar score
o The original Apgar score is used in human newborns
Examination of a newborn calf
Assesment: Modified Apgar score
Response to cold water, muscle strength:
Absent: Score 0
Decreased: Score 1
Normal: Score 2
Interdigital/eyelid reflex
Absent: Score 0
Weak reaction (at least one present): Score 1
Normal, immediate reaction: Score 2
Colour of mucous membranes
White: Score 0
Pale pink , cyanotic: Score 1
Rose pink: Score 2
Respiratory activity
Absent: Score 0
Irregular frequency and intensity: Score 1
Regular frequency and intensity: Score 2
0-3, little vitality
4-6, decreased vitality
7-8, good vitality
Neonatal care/Resuscitation
• Stimulation of breathing is the most important step
o Cleaning nose/mouth
o Rubbingchest
▪ Imitates the mothers licking
o Spilling cold water on their heads
o Putting a straw in their nose
o Hanging them upside down
• Assisted breathing
o If spontane breathing doesn’t commence, assisted breathing can help
o Extending and flexing the front legs will expand and deflate the chest
• No heartbeat: CPR
o 120 beats/min
Thermoregulation
• Relatively good thermoregulation even as newborns (vs lambs, piglets)
• Can resist/overcome the results of severe cold temperatures
• BUT: in the case of dystocia/premature calves, the thermoregulation can be compromised
o Doxapram: in case of neonatal asphyxia (40-100 mg/animal) • They need protection against:
o Wet surroundings (weather, contaminated straw)
o Wind
Navel
• Severe bleeding can occur->tying off
o Newborns can bleed out from the navel, or the blood loss can weaken them and increase the risk of disease later
• Disinfection!
o Iodine solution
o Antibioticspray
• Sepsis originating from from the navel
o Oftendeadly,ifuntreated
o Can cause long-term complications
• Check for hernia
o Hereditary in cattle
o May need surgical correction
o Some animals live with a small hernia their whole lifeColostrum
• FTPI= failure of passive transfer of immunity
o The calf will be at an increased risk of disease in the first few weeks of its life, until
their own immune system starts developing
• „gut closure”: 8—24 h
o In the first few hours after birth, immunglobulins can be absorbed from the gastrointestinal system of the calf
o From hour 8, the GI system gradually loses this function, and starts to digest the immunglobulins as proteins
o Around hour 24, this phenomenon completely stops; from this time, colostrum only has a local effect (can improve gut health)
• ~4 l (10% BW) colostrum in should be given in the first 24 hours
o As soon as possible; a general rule of thumb is giving 2 liters in the first 2 hours of
life (esy to remembers, so farmers can impliment it easily)
• Quality of colostrum (>50 g/l IgG): can be measured with many devices
o Colostrometer
o Refractometer
o Brixrefractometer(>22%)
o Etc.
• Calf blood serum IgG/total protein
o Laboratory tests
o Measuring TP with refractometer
Feeding Pros & Cons
Natural suckling
Pros: Animal welfare Little/no labor needed
Cons: Often delayed
Bucket feeding
Pros: Time effective (?)
Cons: Needs teaching
Nipple bottle
Pros: Using natural reflexes, faster than natural suckling
Cons: Calf often drinks less than recommended
Esophageal feeder
Pros: Time effective; The calf will get the recommended amount for sure
Cons: Animal welfare
After the perinatal period
Housing/first few weeks
Feeding
Tagging
Dehorning/disbuddig
After the perinatal period
Housing/first few weeks
• Individual pens
o Far enough, but not too far
They need to see eachother, but cannot touch (to prevent the spread of diseases)
o Secure enough to prevent escape
o Can be cleaned easily
o Big enough for an older calf
• Lots of bedding (dry straw)
• Feed/water dispensers are adequate and frequently cleaned (especially between calves)
• Kept in groups
o First small groups (4-8)
o Then bigger (30-50)
o Then heifer groups (80-100)
• Dry bedding
• Sheltered against weather, but not too closed off
• The minimal area required for each calf is regulated by law in most countries
After the perinatal period
Feeding
• Usually done by workers, but they must be supervised
o Milk at least twice a day, until weaning
▪ specific conditions
• Volume
• Temperature: esophageal groove reflex
• Adequate feeding container (depends on age)
• No leftover milk should stay in the feeding containers
• Hay and pellets after a few weeks
• Ad libitum water
• Sometimes they need extra fluids (water/milk)
After the perinatal period
Tagging
• Maximum 7 days after birth
• Before: clearly mark them, no mixups
• Use a tagger that works correctly
• Between the cartilage lines,
don’t hit the blood vessels
• Be fast!
• Monitor the wound, especially in the summer
o Calves can loose a lot of blood if they scratch the wound constantly
o Maggots can infect the site of tagging
