Healthy Calves are Possible

On Friday morning, January 18th, I walked 250 preweaned calves on two dairy farms in central New York State. Both farms house calves in hutches well away from cow barns. Brrr. Wind chill in single digits. 

When I walk calves I use the observation criteria in the University of Wisconsin School of Vet. Med respiratory risk scoring system   Click here to see UW scoring system pdf .

Of the 123 calves on Farm One, I found one calf with cloudy nasal discharge, eyes and ears looked fine (score = 2). She had already been identified by the calf care person and treated. This was the only hutch calf treated for pneumonia since the first of the year.

Of the 127 calves on Farm Two, I found two calves with risk symptoms - one with unilateral cloudy discharge (score = 1) the other with bilateral cloudy discharge, no cough (score = 2). 

Farm One has 140 hutches on a crushed stone base. Hutches are cleaned and remain empty for 7 to 10 days before the next calf. Farm Two has 150 hutches on a crushed stone base. Hutches are cleaned and remain empty for 10 to 14 days before the next calf. Both hutch locations are far enough away from adult cow housing to avoid the pathogen plume of air from them. 

Both farms follow calving/newborn protocols that minimize pathogen exposure. They both feed liberal amounts of pasteurized milk.

Moral of the Story: Exceptionally good respiratory health is possible among preweaned calves.

Ventilation, Ventilation, Ventilation

A client and I talked yesterday about remodeling a calf barn from individual calf pens to group pens. The  4 group pens will be stocked with calves on an "All-in, All-out" basis. They are switching to an acidified milk replacer while the remodeling is going on while the calves are still being fed individually. So far, so good.

I asked about ventilation. "Well, we have curtains on three sides. Of course, with the cold weather things are pretty well buttoned up." [Building is rectangular twice as long as it is wide with axis running east - west. Third curtain faces north.]

"How cold has it been in the barn so far this winter?" I asked. "Has the water in the buckets frozen?"

I knew there has been at least a week with overnight temperatures around 20F in late December, early January. If there was good air exchange there should have been at least a film of ice on the buckets.

"No, no ice in the water pails so far this winter." Well, it really is "buttoned up."

Is this a catastrophe waiting to happen when they switch to group housing? In my opinion, the level of air exchange is too low to be healthful now with individual pens. What will happen when they group calves together in four pens and they depend on care takers inexperienced in monitoring calf health in a group setting? Likely outcome is nearly all the calves treated one or more times for pneumonia before weaning.

My recommendations?

1. Start getting experience now managing curtains to take advantage of any natural ventilation available any time the outdoor temperature warms up close to freezing (taking wind into consideration, as well).

2. As part of the remodeling get the building measurements and work with the farm's consultant to design a positive pressure ventilation system to supplement the natural ventilation.  Get this installed BEFORE moving the calves into group pens with the ad lib feeders.

3. Use the guide for observing calves at risk for respiratory illness in order to identify and treat pneumonia cases very early. See Observation Guide Respiratory Risk
Note that the picture guide is the second page at this site.  I use this guide regularly as I walk calves on my clients' farms.  

    

Keeping feeding equipment clean

Yet another calf scours case today. All equipment for mixing and feeding milk replacer has a visible biofilm. Nearly all the calves are receiving some kind of treatment for diarrhea by the time they are 7 to 10 days old.

No rinsing of equipment before going into the  lukewarm wash water. Only household dishwash detergent used to wash with no brushing - only a sponge used to wipe easily accessible surfaces. Bottles and tube feeder left in sink to dry; washed buckets stacked inside each other.

If the deficiencies in the cleaning procedures do not jump out at you in the description above try reviewing these resources:

Equipment cleaning checklist - an explanation of the rinse:wash:rinse:dry procedure

Equipment cleaning protocol - English    a one-page protocol that can be laminated and posted at a cleaning station (i.e., sink in utility room).

Equipment cleaning protocol - Spanish   same protocol as above in Spanish

Equipment cleaning protocol - French     same protocol as above in French

P.S. Yes, I did recommend culturing samples of "as-fed" colostrum, "as-fed" milk replacer and taking blood samples from calves 1-7 days old for blood serum total protein testing.

Are you listening?

Coccidiostats don't solve scours problems in week-old calves!

 

I had a conversation this morning with a producer suffering from wide-spread diarrhea among calves between 7 to 10 days of age. I believe the purpose of the phone call was to confirm the conclusion already reached by the client.

 

The question posed to me was, "Which coccidiostat should I be using for this problem of scours with my calves. Nearly all of them have scours along about 7 to 10 days of age."

 

I tried to divert his attention to basic questions about calving pen cleanliness, how soon calves are moved to their pens, basics of colostrum handling and feeding, and calf pen cleanliness. Diverting his attention from coccidiosis was like trying to shut off Niagara Falls with a cork.

 

He had already decided that coccidiosis was the problem (remember calves generally show clinical signs of coccidiosis around 21 days of age) and my questions were nothing more than an annoyance. "Just answer my question!"

 

Why do I mention this experience? I believe we all suffer from starting to analyze problems with one or more pre-conceived solutions in mind.  I include myself in this population. Keeping an open mind to other than "the usual suspects" is a challenge.

 

This is why using "critical control points" associated with calf management has the potential for helping us not overlook possible solutions to problems. I heard Dr. Shelia McGuirk give a talk on Managing Calf Diseases over a decade ago. Just for an exercise I took that talk and reformatted into a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) format. Her work provides a fresh look at "critical control points." See Managing Calf Diseases: HACCP approach. Enjoy.

Murphy's Law and Colostrum Bacteria Counts

If anything go wrong, it will!

I just finished an analysis of about 340 colostrum samples from 18 dairies that are under the management of one company.

It is hard to believe that there can be so much difference in bacteria counts in colostrum. At one end of the spectrum five of the dairies had really low counts all the way from teat end to "as-fed" going into the calves.

At the other end of the spectrum several dairies had bacteria counts over 100,000cfu/ml in all their samples. If anything can go wrong, it will!

The top issues? In order of frequency of occurrence they were:

#1 Contaminated milker buckets used to collect the colostrum.

#2 Colostrum not chilled rapidly enough once collected and before being frozen.

#3 Contaminated feeding equipment - bottles, tube feeders.

#4 Too long a delay from the time colostrum was thawed and warmed until it was fed.

Can you identify with any of these issues? You might want to consider training or retraining to get higher levels of compliance to your cleaning protocol.

A cleaning protocol for equipment used for colostrum and/or milk is at http://www.atticacows.com/documentView.asp?docID=1971. French version is at http://www.atticacows.com/documentView.asp?docID=714.  Spanish versions are at http://www.atticacows.com/documentView.asp?docID=722 and http://www.atticacows.com/documentView.asp?docID=724.

If training or retraining is needed you may find this checklist helpful.

http://www.atticacows.com/documentView.asp?docID=2102.

 

 

This list of calf management resources may be accessed at www.calffacts.com.

Little Gems - Newsletters

 

Do you receive a newsletter that has "just the right information" in it every issue or two? I receive one of these. It is the monthly newsletter from the W. H. Miner Institute in Chazy, New York. This month it has a nice summary article on how to avoid flunixin (most common brand Banamine) residues in dairy animals. Since dairy calves are frequent sources of violation it is most timely. 

 

The newsletter is found at http://www.whminer.org/farmreport.html. 

 

If you want to get a pdf of the entire letter just click on the words Farm Report at the top center of the screen. To subscribe write to Rachel Dutil at dutil@whminer.com or you may call 518-846-7121 x115. There is no charge for the e-mail version.

 

Do you have a favorite newsletter dealing with dairy calf care that you would like to share with others? Let me know - smleadley@yahoo.com. 

  

Oh, NO! Not another meeting!

 Shannon Linderoth has prepared a checklist of 6 key points to observe when planning a team meeting. Following this advice may improve the productivity of your meetings as well as making them more interesting for the team members. Go to:

http://www.dairyherd.com/e-newsletters/dairy-daily/meet-effectively-113932819.html 

 Just to remind you that there are good guidelines for communicating with employees, Gregorio Billikopf has this short one-page review:

http://www.humanresourcesiq.com/effective-management-toolkit/articles/effectively-communicating-with-employees/ 

Do you have any tips for making meetings productive that have worked for you?

Sam