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CAL F HEALTH
WINTER 2015 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
16
Calf rearing focus brings age
at first calving down
Amongst the first farmers to sign up to the
4x4 scheme were Alfred and Margaret
Hartley of Iniscarn, near Moneymore, who
milk 180 cows, all year round. They had
already formed a good working relationship
with their vet Treenie Bowser through PUMP.
Treenie explains: ‘When the Hartleys first
joined the 4x4 Club, their heifers were
calving down at 28-29 months, which is 4-5
months later than the target. This was due to
a combination of factors which we have
systematically gone through and changed.’
‘Although I’d been visiting the farm for years,
PD-ing and latterly to help them reduce cell
counts through PUMP, I’d never looked, or
been asked to look at the calves until then.’
Improvements in the calf shed
Calves are reared in a shed on the farm that
was not purpose-built for the job; there are
some individual hutches outside too.
Treenie explains: ‘The floor of the calf shed
had poor drainage and was often wet.
This was contributing to problems with
cryptosporidiosis and then pneumonia. So
the Hartleys have improved the drainage
which has helped reduce the disease
challenge, and I’ve drawn up a dosing
protocol for crypto control.’
Colostrum quality is now assessed using the
colostrometer. Alfred has been surprised with
the findings: ‘Some cows had poorer quality
colostrum than I expected. And vice versa.
So now we ensure that only good quality
colostrum is frozen.’
Margaret looks after the calves on the farm
and admits to having learnt a lot from joining
the Club: ‘We used to give calves access to
water once they were a week old – but I
now know we need to supply it from Day
One. It’s a small change, but it has made a
difference – calves start eating their calf
pellets sooner. So despite 37 years of
calf-rearing, there’s still more to learn!
‘And we didn’t appreciate how thin the hide
of a calf is, and how easily they chill. One
of the biggest improvements we have seen is
through the use of calf coats.’
The coats are put onto every calf when it is
born, then taken off 4-5 weeks later, and
washed before being re-used. Margaret
adds: ‘If a calf has a bit of scour, then this
helps keep its temperature up so it can get
better sooner. We started with just five coats,
but have now got 25.
‘At first Alfred thought it was just a gimmick,
but when I’m shivering away feeding them in
the outdoor calf hutches, they are eating and
happily swishing their tails!
‘The first 3-4 weeks are critical. Our calves
are now growing faster – I didn’t realise they
could grow so well.’
Improvements at grass
When heifers were turned out onto grass
in May/June, performance used to drop
off. This was due to a combination of
coccidiosis, gut worms and also liver and
stomach flukes.
Alfred admits that they were not always
receiving their wormer drenches at the right
time and questioned whether he was using
the right products.
Treenie explains: ‘Here in Ireland, as well
as liver fluke, we have a lot of problems
with stomach/rumen fluke – especially over
the past four years in intensely stocked
grazing areas.’
Treenie drew up a drenching programme
for the Hartleys which would ensure that the
correct product was being used at the correct
time. To check its effectiveness, dung samples
are taken when the heifers are housed for the
winter, and again at Christmas, and egg/
oocyst counts monitored.
Alfred explains: ‘We follow Treenie’s
drenching protocol to the book. It’s definitely
helped improve the health in the older
calves, and hence also their growth rates.
‘Another change she instigated was instead
of continuing to feed the calf pellets to
grazing heifers, we are now feeding a
higher energy/protein heifer rearing nut.’
Success
Two years after joining the 4x4 Club, the
Hartleys have fewer cases of crypto,
pneumonia and scour, and healthier,
faster-growing heifers. They currently have
a batch of heifers calving down at close to
26 months, and the next cohort is on-track
to calve at the 24 month target.
Margaret says: ‘We had to pay to join the
Club, and were a bit sceptical thinking it was
just a money-making venture for the practice.
But I have to say, it has certainly paid
dividends back to us! We’ve realised we
need to be working with our vet; the vet bill
represents investment in the business, and we
need to be preventing disease.’
Treenie adds: ‘The 4x4 scheme has shown
us that some farmers are treating their animals
for disease, but without being sure of the
cause. So they are just ‘fighting in the dark’.
As vets, we can, if invited to, investigate the
cause of diseases or scour, and put a
prevention programme in place. Sick calves
take longer to look after than healthy ones.’
Checking colostrum quality
Alfred and Margaret Hartley
Calves should have access to clean drinking
water from Day 1.
The Hartleys and Treenie