management Calf
Notes.com © 2010 by Dr. Jim Quigley
Treating Too Many Calves for Scours
farm asked me a question, “What can I do in a situation where I am treating too many calves for scours?”
I
In their 200-cow herd they normally had about 2 heifer calves a week. Questioning revealed that cows calved on a bedded pack. Calves were routinely left with the cows on this pack until the dam was milked. Colostrum was collected twice a day at the end of regular milkings.
Fresh colostrum was fed at that time to any calf born since the last milking.
She acknowledged that their farm was not good at feeding colostrum promptly. And, they never evaluated colostrum for quality – they just milked the dam and fed whatever she gave. I asked if they had ever sampled colostrum for bacterial culturing from the nursing bottle or tube feeder as it was ready to be fed. “No, we have never done that,” she said. Then she added, “We only feed as much as the calf wants to nurse from a bottle. We don't feed 4 quarts like you said in your talk.”
In my talk I had explained how it was possible to monitor how well a colostrum feeding program was working through blood testing. Well, they had never done that, either. And, they had never sampled the raw waste milk they were feeding the calves so it could be checked for bacteria contamination.
The milk feeding program, she explained, was simple. Every calf received 2 quarts
was at a dairy meeting giving a talk about calf management. At lunch time a woman raising calves for their dairy
of raw waste milk twice a day all seasons of the year. Calves were fed with buckets – the same bucket being used for both water and milk.
Calves were housed in a small barn with a central work alley with a row of 12 pens on each side with plywood dividers. The barn has windows rather than curtains on the sides. When closed up in cold weather she said it was warm enough so that it had to get quite cold outdoors before water would
CALF NOTES
lukewarm water), buy a tub of chlorinated detergent powder rather than rinsing in bleach solution without a detergent, buy a new brush that would t into her nursing bottles.
2. Using sterile plastic bottles like those used
by their milk truck driver, take samples of “asfed” colostrum and raw waste milk. Work with their veterinarian to have them cultured for bacteria (both speciated and quanti ed). What species and how many bacteria are they dealing with when feeding calves?
3. Working with their veterinarian when he
comes for bi-weekly herd health checks to get blood samples from calves between 2 and 7 days of age. Blood serum total protein levels should provide a picture on how well colostrum feeding is working.
4. Give higher priority to prompt feeding of
colostrum. Consider using a colostrum replacer if colostrum feeding will be delayed more than 6 hours.
5. Put a gate in a corner of the bedded pack so
that a newborn calf can be isolated. Gating calves off from cows allows a person to feed colostrum without the help of 20 dry cows and has the bene t of lowering pathogen exposure.
freeze in the buckets.
In my presentation I included a four-step protocol for cleaning equipment used with colostrum and milk. [See
www.atticacows. com, click on Calf Facts and scroll to “Washing milk containers protocol.] None of her procedures met these standards for effective cleaning.
What next? We took a sheet of paper and wrote down a list of possible actions that might lead to fewer calves needing to be treated for scours. Some, but not all, of them are below.
1. Take home the cleaning protocol she received
at the meeting and follow it. Buy some rubber gloves (to wash in hot rather than
6. Improve her skills in using a tube feeder. She
was the only person that knew how to use one and she admitted not feeling con dent in placing the tube in a calf. Feed 4 quarts of colostrum to all the calves.
7. Talk with the herd veterinarian about using
a colostrum supplement for heifer calves if she was not going to start checking colostrum for antibody concentration (for example, with a Colostrometer).
8. Check out the possibility of replacing the
plywood pen dividers with a non-wood product – probably plastic of some kind.
9. If the waste milk has a low bacteria count
consider feeding more of it to the calves. Start feeding more in the fall months and continue until warm weather in the spring
Written by Dr. Jim Quigley (March 2011) © 2010 by Dr. Jim Quigley Calf
Notes.com (
http://www.calfnotes.com) For complete list of references for Calf Note #147, visit
www.calfnotes.com
SELECT SIRES BULL PEN The #1 LPI bull in the land…7HO9264 Lirr Drew
Dempsey By: Brian Garrison
in Canada. Since his release, Dempsey’s popularity has continued to climb with more daughters calving in and not surprisingly he enjoyed noticeable improvement in his GLPI, despite the annual genetic base update that took place with this genetic evaluation.
L
Proven through the Select Sires’ popular progeny test program, the Program for Genetic Advancement Canada™ (PGAC™), he was bred by Randy and Robert Nigh and Steven Holte of Viroqua , Wisconsin. He comes from the heart of the herd. His dam, Kerndt Sneezy Derry Drew, is a Very Good (88) Derry daughter and his grandam was an Excellent Mtoto who completes ve generations of Excellent cows.
irr Drew Dempsey (VG ST), the Braedale Goldwyn son who made his debut in December 2010 among the GLPI leaders, now tops the list as the new number one GLPI bull
Dempsey has 92 daughters in his production summary and will improve both fat and protein %. He is a high ranking bull for conformation at 17 on 81 daughters. Dempsey sires a bit more strength, width of chest, depth of fore rib and heart than Goldwyn and many of his sons. This makes sense when you consider the maternal side of his pedigree and sire stack. His daughters have strong loins and a clean leg with adequate bone and good feet. Udders are high quality with good height and width of rear udder, a deep cleft and a shorter teat. He is capable of making one for the show string too and fortunately has gender SELECTed™ semen available. Dempsey is being used as a sire father by Select Sires.
Use Dempsey on your daughters by Alexander, Sanchez, Shottle, Planet and Re Design with con dence. If you haven’t already, take another look at Dempsey – he’s on top for a reason!
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COWSMOPOLITAN SUMMER 2011 127
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