CAL F HEALTH
Ensuring the good health
and growth of
calves
in early
life will pay dividends later
KAT BAZELEY,
SYNERGY FARM HEALTH
Healthy well-grown calves are, quite literally, the foundation of any dairy
or beef suckler herd. There are many aspects to successful calf rearing,
and XLVets’ Kat Bazeley of Synergy Farm Health has been giving talks
on best practice at a number of farmer meetings held in conjunction with
XLVets practices.
Here are some of the key points made by Kat.
Mortality and
disease statistics
Kat says: ‘Some herds have a lot of
performance data, but are very poor at
recording deaths. Yet mortality rate is one
of the measures of overall herd performance
and impacts on profitability.’
A survey carried out amongst Synergy’s dairy
farm clients had shown an average mortality
rate of 14% for heifers which had been born
live. However there was a large variation
between farms with some experiencing losses
of up to 29% in calves between one and six
months of age, and up to 19% in animals
between six months old and calving.
Kat explains: ‘The level of calf mortality
influences the cost of getting heifers into the
herd. It’s been shown that where heifers are
calving down at 33 months and there’s a high
mortality, then the rearing costs of each heifer
replacement that enters the herd are £3,000.’
In beef suckler herds, profitability depended
on minimising mortality rate and maximising
growth rate of calves, with both influenced
by disease factors. The commonest cause
of death in calves over three months of age
was respiratory diseases, however the
performance potential of calves that survived
was also affected.
Kat explains: ‘Bovine respiratory disease (BRD)
damages the tissue of the lungs and, unless
treated early and successfully, this damage is
irreparable. So calves that have suffered
several bouts of the disease will have patches
of non-functional tissue. Not only is there the
immediate antibiotic cost to cure the infection,
but there’s also a cost in the subsequent
reduction of growth rate.’
In dairy heifers, the disease outbreak will
also tend to reduce cow longevity, with
consequently fewer lactations and less days in
milk. Kat adds: ‘Statistics have shown that any
heifer that has to be treated four times for
pneumonia will never make a profit.’
Kat explains: ‘The first two months of a
calf’s life are the most important. This is
when they are the most efficient at
converting feed into growth; 1kg/day
of feed can give 0.7kg of daily gain,
whereas a two-year-old heifer eating
2kg will only put on 200g of weight.’
Getting calves off to a good start not
only results in an earlier age at first
calving but a faster growing calf will
have better immunity and so fend off
disease more easily.
Kat recommends a high level of feeding
to achieve 0.7-0.8kg/day of gain over
the first two months. ‘Calves will need a
lot of milk powder - more than 1kg/day,
and this can be provided in two daily
feedings totalling 3-4 litres in volume.’
She warns: ‘This heavy milk feeding will
mean there’s a lot of fluid going into the
calf, and so its bed will get wetter, and
this can lead to more respiratory disease
and pneumonia. So it’s important that calf
sheds are designed with sloping floors
and bedded with plenty of straw.
‘Another effect from feeding high volumes
is looser dung - this isn’t the same as
scour. More than 90% of scours in calves
are due to bacteria - so hygiene is
actually more of a factor than the volume
of milk that has been fed.
Focus on
the first
two months
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
15
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
Veterinary surgeon
Kat Bazeley
XLVets practice
Synergy Farm Health
