Calves & Heifers

Scours is responsible for 56.5% of mortality among pre-weaned dairy calves, making it the leading cause of calf death and sickness. How can you make sure your calves’ health, growth and productivity are not affected?

The value of adequate colostrum intake to the health and well-being of calves cannot be overstated. Unlike humans, in which babies are born with immune protection to diseases to which the mother has been exposed, calves are born without immune protection because the bovine placenta does not permit transfer from dam to calf through the blood. As a result, calves only receive protection against disease through ingestion of colostrum, which is rich in immunoglobulins.

Dr. Lowell T. Midla of Merck Animal Health recently discussed the importance of colostrum and vaccinations in the first three months of a calf’s life in a webinar hosted by the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association.

The dry period presents a key time frame to incorporate prevention points that not only guard cow health, but also the health of their offspring against the number one cause of neonatal calf deaths.

When it comes to cow-calf separation, there is no easy answer. Society has its concerns, but most of today’s dairy farms are designed with this practice in mind.

As more research is being done on calf health, it is being discovered that common calf management practices that introduce antibiotics during critical development periods might be doing more harm than good.