There is no other segment of agribusiness enterprises that is so sophisticated, yet so simple as calf management. A A review of the scientific literature over the past 10 years yields literally hundreds of articles regarding management, colostrum, disease and feeding of the baby calf. Yet thousands of calves born every day go on to live healthy, productive lives on well managed dairy farms, veal operations and calf ranches. This paper attempts to put science into perspective by offering calf managers: “I can be a successful calf manager if...”

The movement of antibodies from colostrum across the intestinal wall, into the blood stream, and back again into the intestines is depicted in Figure 1. Colostral antibodies are protein molecules that cross the intestines into the blood for only a few hours after birth. After approximately 6 hours the gut “shuts down” and antibodies no longer move into the blood. Those that remain in the intestines are digested as food and are probably not available to kill bacteria.

So you must devise a system (how to do work on your facility with your workers) that guarantees someone feeds 4 quarts (liters) of colostrum to all newborns within 6 hours after birth.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGES:

A. Collect all colostrum, put it into gallon containers and store it in a refrigerator.

B. Feed one gallon of the freshest colostrum with an esophageal feeder within 6 hours after the calf is born.

C. Write out, organize, train and monitor responsible persons to do this work day and night.

2. “I can be a successful calf manager when I know that I cannot use second milking colostrum as a substitute for colostrum when I don’t have enough colostrum to feed.”
Second milking colostrum does not contain the antibody content or the protein value of colostrum. Colostral substitutes were developed precisely for the purpose of substituting antibodies when natural colostrum from dams is not available. While a variety of colostral substitutes are available and their effectiveness varies, their objective is to provide adequate antibodies. But they probably do not supply other components of colostrum – essential nutrients, growth factors, hormones, protease inhibitors, leukocytes and other essential compounds. You must rely on scientific evaluation of the various colostral substitutes to know which to use; on-farm testing is not precise enough to determine differences between products.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGES:

A. Organize your colostrum delivery program (point 1 above) so that you always have sufficient colostrum available to feed newborns.

B. Have commercial colostral substitutes available to use in the event there is a deficit of natural colostrum.

C. Don’t routinely use colostral substitutes when natural colostrum is available.

3. “I can be a successful calf manager when I recognize that hygiene, next to colostrum feeding, is the second most important principle of calf management.”
The list of common pathogens causing illness and death in calves includes: E. coli, Salmonella, cryptosporidium, Reo and Corona viruses. All these originate in the environment and generally do not cause disease unless they exist at abnormally high levels or infect an immuno-compromised calf. Keep your calving area clean. Keep individual calf hutches and feeding utensils clean and reduce the number of potential organisms that affect calves.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGES:

A. Keep newborns clean, dry and comfortable.

B. Dip the navel of newborns immediately with a 7% iodine solution (closes the freeway bacteria use to gain entrance to the liver kidneys and intestines).

C. Maintain all milk feeding equipment clean and sanitary.

4. “I can be a successful calf manager if I understand how to use vaccines in my calf management program.”
Calves (all cattle) have two components to their immune system: humeral (or blood carrying) antibodies and cellular antibodies. Vaccines work by stimulating the calf to produce additional antibodies from either or both of these two systems. As discussed earlier (point 1) it is possible to “give” the newborn temporary protection with colostral antibodies. But these will gradually diminish and must be replaced when the calf’s immune system produces its own antibodies from both the humeral and cellular immune systems.

Vaccinating baby calves that have had colostrum is best done at weeks or months after birth. As the calf ages, its immune system matures and it can produce more antibodies in response to vaccines. In colostral-deprived calves, vaccinate with appropriate vaccines at a very early age. In either case, use vaccines appropriate for the organisms prevalent in your enterprise; depend on veterinary advice to choose whether to use killed or modified live vaccines.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGES:

A. Vaccines are not a substitute for colostral antibodies; the calf’s immune system cannot respond quickly enough to afford the protection that colostrum provides.

B. The baby calf’s immune system can respond to vaccines given at an early age; select which vaccines and when they should be administered with the assistance of your veterinarian.

C. Colostrum-fed dairy calves are “different critters” than colostral-deprived calf ranch calves; vaccinate each differently.

5. “I can be a successful calf manager if, when treating diarrhea, I do not take calves off milk or milk replacer.”
Baby calves (like all babies) require nutrients in small amounts regularly to meet maintenance and growth requirements. Depriving the sick calf that wants to eat of the nutrients needed does more harm than good. A field trial conducted at the University of Wisconsin demonstrated that calves fed milk along with therapy for diarrhea responded as well or better when compared to a group of calves when feed was withheld for 24 hours during diarrhea therapy.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGES:

A. Involve your veterinarian to design the appropriate treatment program for your scouring calves.

B. Continue to feed milk or milk replacer to calves that will drink during scours treatment.

C. Use an additional “feeding” of oral electrolytes in the middle of the day to scouring calves.

6. “I can be a successful calf manager if I recognize that calves grow best when fed milk or milk replacer and good quality grain mix until weaning.”
Milk and milk replacer (except in veal operations) provides nutrients to satisfy maintenance requirements only. Additional growth requirements are met through grain consumption. Pennsylvania State University trials identified that rumen development was maximized on diets that contained both milk and grain. Energy deficits are common in undernourished calves and these are more susceptible to disease.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGES:

A. Provide water and grain free choice to baby calves all the time. Manage so that the youngest calves receive fresh grain daily; feed grain so that calves have access to it immediately when they finish consuming milk.

B. Wean calves when they consume greater than 2.5 lbs. of grain daily.  EL

Dr. Tom Fuhrmann DVM
Consultant and owner of Dairy Works
Tom can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it