Simplicity key to calf rearing
The main message in calf rearing is to keep things simple, do those things well and pay attention to detail, says Wendy Morgan, Seales Winslow nutrition and quality assurance manager.
Last spring my purchase of three pens from the local calf saleyard, a total of 61 rearer calves, led to the discovery that stock agents had mixed 20 farmers’ calves to create the three lines, and that sawdust in saleyard pens, despite being a source of disease, was not replaced until the end of each selling season.
As four-day-old calves have poor immunity to disease, both these practices place calves at great risk of contracting a disease at the saleyard.
The 61 calves I bought started scouring the following day and contaminated my new shed with salmonella.
After a missed diagnosis and incorrect drug treatment, the disease was finally controlled but a large number of calves died. Because the calves were bought from the saleyard and had been mixed, there was no possibility of identifying the source of the disease and no compensation.
Every year large numbers of calves die in rearer sheds; mixing calves and poor hygiene in saleyards contribute to the problem. Lack of colostrum is also a major cause.
This year I avoided the saleyard. I collected 80 Friesian bull calves over three weeks from three farms.
The calves had the recommended colostrum, none developed disease, all quickly reached weaning weights and were taken off CMR within six weeks. The calf sheds were emptied, hosed clean and a second lot of calves collected.
The second intake being white-faced calves were sourced from different farmers. Again all the farmers guaranteed the calves would have adequate colostrum and would be healthy four-day-old calves.
Thirty-five calves from the one farm all transitioned smoothly to CMR and pellets and thrived, but not so the calves from other farms.
On arriving home the calves from one farm refused to drink and immediately scoured in my hosed-clean pens. They were loaded back into the trailer and returned to the farmer that same afternoon.
Six of the 11 calves from another farm became seriously ill over a week. They were unable to stand within hours of developing scours and despite aggressive electrolyte replacement and antibiotics all died or were euthanased.
Calves in the same pen sourced from another farm were mildly affected and all recovered. Blood samples from the dying calves showed they had had inadequate colostrum. When I relayed the information and offered to forward the lab results to this farmer he continued to demand payment for all eleven calves or the return of all including the dead.
Among the consequences of a disease outbreak are rearer fatigue and depression. It is difficult watching calves die, it is highly labour intensive attending to sick calves, and the financial costs including calf replacement, vet bills, electrolytes, CMR and antibiotics make it unprofitable. 500,000 Friesian bull calves are reared each year and the profit margins are small. Dairy farmers are paid considerably more than bobby calf price by rearers and in exchange ask only that calves get adequate colostrums, without which the calf is not a rearer calf.
Successful calf rearing depends on honest, committed relationships between rearer and dairy farmer but these relationships may be rare. Twenty five percent of rearers exit the business after only four years; the main factor is unacceptable mortality rates in calves.
My plea to dairy farmers who sell rearer calves is to ensure calves have adequate high quality colostrum within 12 hours of birth. High quality colostrum is that produced by the cow with 24 hours of calving.
My suggestion to rearers is, if calves fail to thrive get blood samples done for colostrum (Bovine IgG).
They cost about $20/head and should be done within 10 days of birth. Calves rarely do well, despite vet visits and expensive treatments if they have no immunity to disease.
• Patricia Hosking has an intensive bull and beef fattening property near Rotorua.
