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D
r Sam Leadley, a calf and heifer management specialist in New York
State visited several XLVets practices earlier this year. Elanco Animal
Health kindly sponsored a number of meetings and farm walks giving
Dr Leadley an opportunity to share his knowledge and experience with UK
farmers and vets. This is the concluding article summarising the key points.
Calf Rearing
in cold weather...
AN I MA L H E A LT H
Veterinary Surgeon
Julian Allen
XLVets Practice
Friars Moor, Dorset
In a previous article we focussed on colostrum
management. Here we look at the challenges
of rearing calves in cold weather. Scours and
pneumonia often become more prevalent
during the winter months and we consider
some factors that make calves more
susceptible to disease.
Feeding
- make sure they get
enough energy...
Calves that are under-fed and energy
deficient will be at a high risk of developing
the common calf-hood diseases such as
scours and pneumonia. This is because at
low or negative growth rates their immune
systems do not mature rapidly enough to
provide protection from infectious disease.
l
Young calves need energy for both
maintenance and growth. Energy
requirements for maintenance increase
significantly in a cold environment. The
Lower Critical Temperature (LTC) is the
temperature at which an animal begins to
use extra energy to maintain normal body
temperature. Calves under 3 weeks old
have an LCT of 20°C and they require
40% more energy for maintenance when
temperatures drop to 0°C.
l
We can easily assess energy status in
young calves by checking body condition
score. If the backbone in calves 2-3 weeks
of age feels more prominent than it does in
newborn calves this tells us they have been
using up the body reserves (muscle and
fat) that they were born with in order to
keep warm. In other words, the calves
are energy deficient and feeding has
been inadequate.
7
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...