The importance of good health management for calf start-up [Vet testimony]

P. farm is not usually a heavy consumer of rehydration sachets for calves and other associated products.

This is thanks to good management of the dry cow ration and correct colostrum intake. The latter is checked by measuring serum immunoglobulins in young calves. However, the situation has deteriorated in recent months, with a number of sick calves suffering from diarrhoea at around 8 to 10 days of age, and a number of deaths as a result. The calf manager’s working hours are soaring and morale is plummeting.

A number of factors could increase the risk of contamination in the livestock farm

In fact, P. farm is currently in the process of joining forces with another breeder, and this is having an impact on the way the farm is run. The breeders are anticipating an increase in milk production, and the number of heifers and dry cows in the buildings is exploding. At the same time, a large part of the workforce is involved in the day-to-day work and the construction of the new building.

State of play of the livestock

• The calves most affected are very often heifer calves,
• Colostrum is of poor quality (low density on the breeder’s colostrum weighing scale), confirmed by low protein levels in calves aged 5 days,
• Analyses carried out on diarrhoeic calves yielded few results, apart from the moderate presence of cryptosporidia.

Hygiene of the livestock

As a result, the basics of livestock management are being disregarded: overcrowding in the dry cow pens and poor hygiene, poorer feed management for heifers in preparation for calving, who find themselves in increased competition with multiparous cows at the trough. Some calvings even took place in the dry cow pen.

Calf immunity

A calf’s health is a balance between the immunity it has and the infectious load it has to cope with. In this case, calves are generally poorly immunised, making it difficult for them to deal with farm microbes, even if they are not very pathogenic. Conversely, and in correlation with a high calving rate, the intense succession of calves in the nursery leads to a sharp increase in the germs present in the nursery’s individual pens. In addition, some calves suffer from diarrhoea and excrete even more pathogens.

Colostrum

As we are unable to work on the management of cows and heifers in preparation for calving, we have to work on the care of newborn calves. Heifer calves receive colostrum from a multiparous animal when the heifer’s colostrum is of insufficient quality, which helps to improve the immunity acquired against the farm’s microbes.

A cleaning/disinfection protocol in place

• The calves’ individual pens are cleaned, a detergent is applied and, after rinsing, a disinfectant is sprayed on the floor and partitions. This significantly reduces the viral and bacterial load in the young calf’s environment, thereby reducing the risk of pathologies appearing,
• An infra-red lamp was placed above the young calves for the first 24 hours of life.

Following the implementation of these measures, the health situation rapidly improved. A few calves still suffer from diarrhoea, but only a small number, and the diarrhoea recedes after a day’s rehydration. The calf mortality has disappeared.
All that remains now is to organise the correct management of dry cows and heifers in preparation for calving.

Dr. Michel Lenard
Vet in Janzé (35)