Do's and Don'ts of Calf Rearing

    So this is my first post!!:) I realized that it's wednesday this afternoon and couldn't wait to get home!  My first post is going to be about calves.  I decided to write about calves because feeding and taking care of the calves is one of my many jobs on the farm.

    When a calf is born, in the first six hours of its life it needs colostrum.  Colstrum contains antibodies and immunoglobulins (essential proteins) that give the calf protection from disease.   The calf needs colostrum because its immune stystem isn't fully developed.  A calf needs 5 to 6% of its body wieght of colostrum in the first six hours, another 5 to 6% in twelve hours. So if a calf weighed 80 Ibs it would get 4 Ibs.  Colostrum is important because by the 24 hour time period the calfs stomach starts to close off and its extremely difficult for the animal to absorb the essential proteins in the colostrum.  When the birth of an animal is longer than usual, it takes the animal longer to stand up and nurse from the dam.  In this case, we use colostrum supplements.  Colostrum supplements arent as efficient and typically don't have the same amount of nutrition but they work when you don't have colostrum.  In the case where your cow gives birth to twins, you may not have enough colostrum and  need to use colostrum supplements. If you have another cow freshen at the time that has an over abundance of colostrum, feel free to borrow some of her milk.  If your cow freshens and you have to much milk for her calf and/or other calves, freeze the colostrum.  Use a Ziplock baggie or Serving Savers container to store the colostrum.  Do not unthaw and freeze the colostrum again!   It takes out important antibodies out.

    Whole milk is ideal for calves.  It has an correct balance of vitamins, minerals and protien to ensure good growth in your heifers.  Health problems are usualy lower when feeding whole milk.  This is beacause of the guaranteed quality control of the sources of protien and energy and there is no need to follow a recipe to ensure the correct amount of everything.

    Another way to feed calves is with milk replacer.  To most producers the difference between milk replacer and wholemilk depends mostly on cost.Some farmers are concerned about the marked variation in milk replacer quality from batch to batch.  Even though whole milk may be better for calves it's not always availible.  

    Good calve and heifer housing facilities will help to enhance the amount of well grown replacements at 2 years of age.  To acheive this goal:

• Produce heifers that are ready to breed at 13-15 months
• provide a comferable and healthy environment 
• provide a convenient environment for the yourself or operater

    A newborn calf has the highest gentic potential on the farm.  The care given to the animal must be constistant so that it's value ramains high.  There are many different methods and facilities to raise a replacement animal.  The housing can be in an old barn or new facility, elaborate or simple.  There are 7 different housing systems based on the heifers age group.  The needs of each group vary from manegment, feeding and health requirements.  The groups can be raised in seperate buildings or the same.  On our farm we have 2 different barns.  The main barn houses our newborns to 6 month olds.  We also keep heifers that have a lot of promise and my brother and my show heifers.  In the other barn we have heifers that are at 7 month to breeding age.  My dad was talking that he wanted a facility for heifers that were in calf.

    The age groups are:

• Group 1- newborns to two months, single pen or stall
• Group 2-two to four months, weaning pen with 3 to 5 calves the same age
• Group 3- four to six months, variety of housing choices
• Group 4- six to nine months, variety of housing choices
• Group 5- nine to twelve months, variety of choices
• Group 6-twelve to eighteen months, variety of choices
• Group 7- eighteen months to  calving, variety of choices
• Group 8- calving, maternity pen

    A calve housing changes as it grows.  Different age group will not always contain the same amount of calves.  Therefor, a flexibal system that will allow changes in manegment, feeding and overall animal care is a must.The number of groups housed inthe same building depends on facilaties and number and size of animals.

    A good heifer and maternity pen is necessary for a good heifer and calf.  A maternity pen can be indoors and outdoors.  An outside pen should be a grassy pasture area, seperated from the milking cows, makes a satasfatery milking pen in the warm weather.  A maternity pen should be:

• seperate from the other cows
• be clean and bedded well, prefferably straw ( but sand works too)
• have a slip resistant floor
• if indoor be 12 feet by 12 feet in size
• have a stanchion and lifting ring
• have drinking water available

    A materinty pen should be used for dry cows only, sick cows should have a seperate pen in a different area of the barn.  But in the event that the pen is used for for a sick or treated cow, after it should be thoroughly cleaned and disenfected before it is used again. The pen should be large enough to allow the cow and calf space to move and permit access to a cow that is showing diffuculty.

    Group 1(newborn to 2 months)

    Special provisions must be takin to get calves of to a good start.  To minamize disease transportation, they should be away from older calve and in a draft-free zone.

    General requirments for calves under on an all liquid diet:

• single housing for each calf
• isolation from older calves
• well ventalated but draft-free quarters
• dry pens with ample bedding
• suitable location to encourage regular observations
• pens designed so that the dairy farmer can access
• pens easily cleaned and distanfected between uses

    Several types of housing can be used in this case.  Housing such as hutches, solar or gang hutches, and floor pens in a well ventalated area.  You should select a housing that has good ventalation year round.  Calf hutches or solar hutches are good because they have their own ventalation system.  Floor pens can be used in cold barns with proper ventalation.  Heated barns are not recommended beacause they cost more to build, increase sickness and manegment problems compared to "cold" housing.

Group 2(2 months to 3 months)

    This is a crucial time in a calfs life for good growth.  A group housing system housing 3 to5 calves is exellent at this stage.  The housing shouldn't be too different or far away from Group 1's location to minimize stress.  Housing for this group includes group hutches, single hutches or floor pens.  Whether you choose a hutch or pen it important to remember:

• continuously availible frostproof water
• at least 18 inches of feed bunck space, divided to ensure each calf eating space
• ample bedding protection from drafts
• location to encourage regular observations
• easy clean out 

Group 3 to 7(5 months to calving)

    When calves have ajusted to group living and community feedbunks and waterers, there is a variety of choice for housing.  The main requirments for these age groups is dictated by the increased space needed as the animal increases in size and changes rations, herd health, breeding and observations.  A housing facility for heifers 3 to calving must provide:

• grouping by size and age of group
• ease of movement from one group to the other
• ease of observation
• feeding by age groups as nessecary
• restraint facilities for animals being treated or breed
• convenient manure removol and bedding as nessecary
• continuously available frostproof water
• good naturaul ventilation

    These requirments are best met by free stall, pack barns or pens along a feedbunk.

    The 2 most common dissease in young dairy calves are stomach problens that lead to scours and pneumonia.  Over 80% of calf loss are due to these dissease.  Bloat, navel-illness, accidents and piosoning make up the rest.  Scours is the result of changed gut function, the germs make the gut stop functioning properly, which increases the amount of manure and fluids that the calf passes.  A calf with scours passes 20 time more water than a normal calf.  This extra water mixes with salt and other food, so that the calf looses more than it takes in.  This cause causes dehydration, which usualy causes shock and death.

    E.coli is a germ that poisons the stomach so more fluid passes through it.  This also causes shock and death.  A calf with E.coli doesn't usually look like it's been poisoned.  

    Salmonella is a disease that redding the wall of the stomach.  This results in damageing of the tissue making it hard to absorg nutrients like food or water.  Salmonelle then spreads through the rest of the body causing blood poisoning and rapid death.

    Rotavirus and Cryptosporidia damages the stomach so that the food is not used.  This usually happens with milk and the the milk sours in the stomach.  The germs normally in the stamach rapidly multiply and creating poisons.  When the poisons are created the stomach works harder trying to remove them hence the scours.  The water and food are both lost and because the calf can't keep food in its stomach it slowly dies.

     By vacinating, proper feeding, having proper housing and bedding, quarantineing animal that do have disease you can prevent diseases like these and death of your animals .

                                                                            Thanks,

                                                                                        Maddy<3