If it worked for my neighbor's calf it should work for mine!

I just wince or flinch when I hear this. Borrowing treatments without a professional diagnosis is just asking for trouble.

The last recent case of this was a dairy experiencing and outbreak of something that was killing calves. The  calves seemed to begin with pneumonia-like symptoms. The antibiotic the farm was accustomed to using did not seem to make a difference. Even treated calves continued to go downhill and die. 

For a couple of weeks the farm experimented with antibiotics that appeared to be working for a neighboring farm. Disappointed results let them to finally request professional assistance.

Our diagnosis? Not feeding enough given the environmental conditions. With week after week of nighttime temperatures in the single digits (and often below zero) energy demands on calves for maintenance have been very, very high. This farm continued to feed two quarts of 20-20 milk replacer twice daily (mixed so that 10 ounces of powder makes two quarts).

Just not enough feed. No antibiotic in the world can help a starving calf. 

Borrowing treatments without a professional diagnosis is just asking for trouble.

Just Corn and Oats

 

I had a question today about home-made calf starter grain. The farm grows both corn and oats. They want to make their calf starter grain using these grains. What proportion of cracked corn to rolled oats should they use?

 

The answer is that no matter what proportion of these grains they use the resulting blend will be much too low in protein for preweaned calves. 

 

Book values of crude protein (let's not get into using metabolizable protein) for these two grains are: corn = 9.4 and oats = 13.2 percent.

 

Recommended protein level for young calves is 18 percent.

 

My suggestion was to talk with their feed dealer about a high-protein pellet that could be blended with their home-grown grains. For example, dealers often stock pelleted feeds ranging from 30 to 45 percent crude protein.

 

Alternatively, I suggest that a farm like this consider blending whole shelled corn with the high protein pellet. This can be used as the grain source up through four months of age. In order to manage this well the producer must remember to provide this mix free-choice; that is, do not let the calves run out of feed - we don't want them to slug feed because they were without feed for any significant length of time. Of course, water should be free-choice as well. 

Read the Tag?

 

Think of all the barriers to reading a milk replacer tag. Fine print - yes. Tag is covered with dust and dirt - yes. Left my glasses in the kitchen - yes. Motivation level low - yes. 

 

However, once in a while one can pick up new information. I have to admit that I, too, am negligent about reading the mixing instructions on these tags. Last week I pulled the tag off a bag of Land 'O Lakes Cows' Match Jersey Blend milk replacer.

 

I read this:

 

"5 Gallon Mix: While stirring mix 6.25 lbs. of milk powder into 110-120degree F water and bring final solution to 5 gallons. Mix thoroughly and feed immediately after mixing. Powder should be weighted for precision and best calf performance."

 

Clearly stated behavior - do this, do this and do this. If a gallon of this mix weighs 8.6 pounds this formula gives you a 14.5 percent solids solution. When fed at tag-recommended rates (2 quarts twice daily first week, 2.4 quarts twice daily weeks 2- 7,

2.4 quarts twice daily week 8) it should deliver on a daily basis:

Week one  =  1 1/4 pounds powder a day

Weeks 2-7 =  1 1/2 pounds powder a day

Week 8     =   3/4 pound powder a day

 

Individual Calf:  

"Week1: While stirring pour 10 oz. of milk replace powder into 110-120 degree F water. Mix thoroughly and feed resulting solution (2 quarts) twice daily." 

Did I miss something or did you see anything about the total amount of 110-120 water? Is it clear to you or  just implied that ones starts with less than 2 quarts so that when you get done mixing you end up with two quarts?

 

Regardless of my confusion the calf drinks whatever you mix she ends up with two 10 ounce feedings a day - that comes to 1 1/4 pounds just like when you batch mix milk replacer. 

 

"Week 2 through Week 7: While stirring pour 12 oz. of milk replacer powder in 110-120 degree F water. Mix thoroughly and feed resulting solution (2.4 quarts) twice daily."

 

I am guessing that in this case I started with 2 quarts of water, added 12 ounces of powder, and ended up with 2.4 quarts of mix.  These calves get two feedings so they end up with 24 ounces of powder, that is, 1 1/2 pounds.of powder daily.

 

Why my concern over these tag instructions?

 

In the real world of on-farm calf feeding we have two different individual mixing protocols, one for very young calves and another for calves 2-7 weeks of age.

 

I think that there is a good chance that the calf care person mixing for very young calves will begin using 2 quarts of water and 10 ounces of powder. That is, use the same volume of water regardless of the age of the calf.

 

If the very young calf twice daily drinks all 2.4 quarts of this mix no problem. But if only 2 quarts are fed each feeding then the calf consumes about 8 ounces of powder per feeding - not the intended 10 ounces.

Alternatively (what I observed on one farm), the calf care person used the same amount of powder regardless of the calf's age. That is, for the very young calf they dump in a full cup (12 ounces) of powder into water, mix and add enough water to make 2 quarts. This mix will come out about 17.5 percent solids.

If the calf received excellent newborn care (calving pen care, lots of clean high quality colostrum soon after birth) this high-concentration milk replacer mix may not result in problems. But, what if this quality of care is not true? These calves could begin scouring badly and easily become dehydrated enough to die.

 

 

Win the Fight Against Parasites!

 

We have to be aware of all the ways in which parasites gain access to our calves. I was on a farm on Thursday this past week. I was impressed by the way the feeding equipment was kept clean. This was true for the waterers, as well. 

 

Then I noticed in two group pens of preweaned calves that hay was being fed on the floor of the pen. Ooops! Best management practice for feeding roughages (in this case hay) is to feed them in either an open trough or a hay rack with a solid bottom. 

 

These feeding practices reduce the time when calves are picking up hay off the floor where it may be contaminated with parasite oocysts or "eggs."

 

The fact that these two pens were "temporary" pens does partly explain the absence of proper forage feeding equipment. However, I would rather see small amounts of hay stuffed into the top of the grain feeding pails rather than on the pen floor. 

 

This is just a little thing but parasites like coccidia and cryptosporidia are such a waste of energy and protein for our calves. Any little inexpensive thing we can do to reduce exposure makes sense to me. 

 

 

$$$$ to Raise a Heifer

During a presentation last Friday (January 24, 2014) Dr. Dave Combs from the Dairy Science Dept at Univ. Wisconsin presented some numbers about the cost of raising heifers. He quoted from Vanderwerf et al.,"Survey of 32 dairy farms and custom heifer raising operations (no pasture based farms)" 2013 UW-Extension.

The 2013 total cost was $2,274. This included feed ($1,274 - 56%), labor (16%), bedding (5%), veterinary, breeding, electric and fuel, interest, death loss, and management. This may be compared to 2007 when the total cost was $1,323. At that time feed cost was $683 (52% of total).

Much of the $951 increase from 2007 to 2013 was in feed cost - $591.

These feeds costs were broken out by stage of growth. 

                                               2007     2013   Percent increase

Birth to 10 weeks                   $314     $340     8%

10 weeks to freshening          $370     $934     152%

Notice how little the feed cost increased for the early stage in life.

My take on this? If one is looking for a way to reduce the cost of raising heifers the period from birth to 10 weeks is the wrong place to look. Keep feeding them to realize their genetic potential to grow. And, their feed conversion efficiency will be better later in life.

How to save $ on heifer costs? Raise only the number of heifers needed on the dairy - but that is another topic all together.

 

Getting More Energy Into Babies

What a challenge. Very cold weather and cold housing for calves. When this happens calves more than four weeks old just eat more - offer them more milk, give them free-choice calf starter and make sure they have access to water.

How to get more energy into babies? How to meet the nutritional needs of calves less than ten days old when temperatures drop to near zero F?

Drawing on my calf work at Noblehurst Dairy and consulting contacts I have observed very large differences in eating behavior among young calves (less than ten days old). Perhaps up to half of my calves this age would drink even 2.5 to 3 quarts in twice daily feedings. These animals were not my problem.

In contrast I had to struggle to get maybe up to a third of them to get them to drink four quarts fed in two feedings about 9 hours apart. For a couple of winters I fed whole milk (dry matter fat level above 30%). That way about four quarts just barely met maintenance needs. 

Other years I was feeding 20-20 milk replacer. During very cold weather that takes at least five quarts to barely meet maintenance requirements for a 90 pound calf. This is when I started feeding these youngest calves three times a day. That was 7:00 am (2 qts),11:30 am (1 qt), and 5:30 pm (2 qts). This strategy worked better when I increased the powder concentration to about 15% solids (10 ounces of powder makes 2 quarts of milk replacer).

One of my clients feeds 15% solids 20% fat milk replacer with three-quart nursing bottles. They offer a full bottle to all calves twice a day. The young calves that do not clean up their morning bottle are offered an additional quart at mid-day. Most of these "laggards" will drink the noon-time bottle. Just like in the morning, these "laggards" will only drink 2/3 to 3/4 of the PM bottle as well. Their experience is that by around 7 to 10 days these "laggards" come around and start cleaning up both bottles daily.

In sum, it takes extra attention to get the "laggards" among the youngest calves to drink enough to meet even their maintenance energy needs during very cold weather. For a review of ideas for cold weather feeding click HERE .

 

Too Much Challenge, Too Little Immunity

 

The conversation this morning in the vet clinic kitchen was about pneumonia among weaned calves. Initially the primary focus was on one farm. Yet, as we discussed the nature of the problem and possible solutions similar issues on other farms emerged. These were all farms that raise calves in individual pens until about two months and, after weaning, move them to group pens.

 

The nearly universal situation of overcrowding in transition heifer pens is the most common source of challenging stresses. Also, at this time heifers are making the transition from individual to group housing. Thus we have immuno-suppressed heifers that are being exposed to a new profile of pathogens as they are mixed with other heifers for the first time in their life.

 

On this farm calves are vaccinated with an intra-nasal vaccine on day two of life. Then the vaccination protocol calls for an injectable modified-live vaccine around four months of age. But, the spike in heifer pneumonia is happening around two to three weeks after the calves are moved into these pens - well before the scheduled second vaccination.

 

In the long-term, additional heifer facilities are on the planning board. But, the heifers are getting sick now! In the short-term, we talked over ways to boost immunity among these heifers. As we broke up and went off to get ready for today's farm calls the consensus was that the vaccination protocol needs to be modified to add an intra-nasal vaccination.

 

The farm vet and owner will meet today to talk over this change. They have to decide which vaccine to use, when and where to vaccinate and who will be responsible for getting the job done.