MODERN CALF MANAGEMENT PRACTICES & CAUSES OF CALF MORTALITY AND CONTROL STRATEGIES

MODERN CALF MANAGEMENT PRACTICES & CAUSES OF CALF MORTALITY AND CONTROL STRATEGIES

Calf management

 

Calf Care
Care of calf and cow at birth
·         A few days before the probable date of calving, cow should be transferred to individual calving pens. ·         Preferably 1 to 2 weeks before the expected calving date. ·         The number of calving pens required on a farm depends on the number of breedable cows and heifer, generally 5 per cent of this number. ·         Ample amount of drinking water, laxative feed and generous supply of bedding may be provided. ·         The calving pen should be scrupulously cleaned and sterilized before brining in the cow. ·         Antiseptic solution like tincture Iodine or Povidone iodine, thread, scissors, lubricants like liquid paraffin, vegetable oils, obstetrical equipment like hook, snare, calf puller, wire saw; emergency drugs like local anesthetics, antibiotics, analgesic, calciumboroglugonate, other items like emergency light, towel, soap, buckets, aprons etc. should be made available in all time in the calving pen. ·         In villages or farmers those who are maintaining only one or two animals must tie the animal in advanced stage of pregnancy separately under visibility. ·         It must be protected from predators. The floor should be dry and clean and having clean grass cover is essential. ·         The cow should not be tethered too close, it must be tied with sufficient rope so that animal can move freely and care the new born easily during night time when calving is unnoticed. ·         If any abortion, calves should be examined thoroughly to ascertain the possible cause for abortion (age of the foetus, condition, necrotic foci if any etc). ·         In such case the calving pen should be thoroughly sterilized with 4 per cent caustic soda.

 

Calving pen

·         It is a individual loose box or stall used for calving, which should be 3 m x 4 m size (12 m2) and well ventilated. Sufficient lighting is essential. ·         It provided better protection to the cow and calf and avoids disturbances from other cows. ·         Special attention can be provided for which attendant quarters may be nearer to calving pen. ·         Attendant quarters may be established nearer to calving pen to monitor calving process during night time.

 

Management immediately after calving
·         Udder and hind quarter should be washed with lukewarm water containing an antiseptic solution of potassium permanganate lotion and dried with clean cloth. ·         Cows may be milked to relieve the pressure from the udder ·         If day old weaning is not practiced the calf can be allowed to remain with the mother in the calving pen for 7 to 10 days. ·         Otherwise the calves can be removed immediately to calf pen. ·         The maternal instinct is more, cow’s eyes can be blindfolded before the calf is removed. ·         The placenta is to be expelled within 12 to 24 hours after parturition. if it is not expelled in 24 hours, seek the help of a Veterinarian be removed manually. ·         Before manual removal the body temperature should be noted. ·         In case of pyrexia, attempt should be made systemically to reduce fever. Otherwise systemic infection may establish. ·         The cow should be monitored carefully for signs of any metabolic disorders like milk fever, grass tetany, Ketosis, acidosis and should be treated immediately.

	Colostrum feeding
·         Colostrum is the first milk secreted after parturition. ·         It contains large amount of gama globulins which are nothing but anit-bodies produced by the cow against antigens encounter during her life including those against man disease producing organisms. ·         Absorption of these antibodies provides the calf with an umbrella of passive immunity.

 

Composition of colostrums and milk

·         Colostrums is highly fortified source of nutrient having 7 times the protein and twice the total solids of normal milk, thus it gives an early boost in portion and solid intake. ·         It contains higher amount of minerals and vitamin A which are essential to combat disease. Ingestion of these through colostrums substantially increase the calf’s survivability. ·         Colostrums give a laxative effect which is helpful in expulsion of muconium (first faeces). ·         The cows should be vaccinated against contagious and infectious diseases which help to increase the quantity and quality of gama globulins in colostrums. ·         Similarly colostrums of mature cow posses large quantities of gama globulins because they have greater chance of exposure to many infection. ·         The gama globulins must be absorbed as such across the intestinal wall into blood stream without being broken down into the constituent peptides or amino acids. ·         This permeability is rapidly lost after the first few hours of life. Many studies have shown that these globulins pass across the gut wall at the most rapid rates during the first 1-2 hours of life. ·         Taking this into view. It will be highly useful to feed colostrums in the first 15-30 minutes followed by a second dose in approximately 10-12 hours. ·         The absorptive cells lining the small intestine are immature at birth. In this stage they indiscriminately take up large molecules like immunoglobins. ·         As the calf grows older hour by hour, there is a transition of epithelia cells of small intestine from immature type to mature type which cannot allow large protein molecules. ·         As the more and more cells mature the capacity of the calf to absorb immunoglobins diminishes proportionately until ‘closure’ when no more absorption can take place. ·         This phenomenon is called ‘gut closure’. Concentration of antibodies at ‘closure’ is directly related to the disease resistance of the calf. ·         If at closure the calf had absorbed only a small amount of immunoglobins from colostrums, the diminishing concentration soon puts the calf into a critical immune position. ·         This increases morbidity and often leads to mortality of the calves. ·         Quantity of colostrums to be fed is 1/10th of body weight. o    15-30 minutes of life – 5-8 % of body weight o    10-12 hours of life – 5-8 % of body weight o    2nd day – 10% of body weight o    3rd day – 10% of body weight ·         Excess colostrums can be milked out daily otherwise the calves can drink in excess and results in calf scour. ·         The excess colostrums can be stored by refrigeration and can be used to other calves or orphan calves. ·         Colostrums can also be freezed and stored indefinitely. Colostrums can also be fermented naturally and stored for 5-7 days and can be used. ·         Colostrums substitute: in case of non availability of colostrums due to accidental death of mother or agalactia colostrums substitute can be used. ·         It can be prepared by mixing 2 whole eggs in one litre of milk and 30 ml of castor oil. It should be fed three times in a day.

 

	Composition of Colostrum
Constituents Colostrum of cow milk Colostrum of buffalo milk Milk Total solids 28.30 31.0 12.86 Ash 1.58 0.9 0.72 Fat 0.15-1.2 4.0 4.0 Lactose 2.5 2.2 4.8 Casein 4.76 7.7 2.8 Albumin 1.5 3.6 0.54 Globulin 15.06 12.5 – Total protein 21.32 23.8 3.34

Weaning ·         Making the calf independent of its mother is known as weaning. ·         Under early weaning system, the cow is not allowed to suckle its calf. ·         Instead, the cow is completely milked out and required quantities of whole milk or skim milk are fed to the calf.   Disadvantages ·         Weaning is a problematic in Bos indicus and buffaloes due to strong maternal instinct. ·         0 day weaning can cause reduced milk yield in such animals, and also cause early drying and temperamental problems.

 

Important guidelines in young calf rearing/ milk feeding ·         In intensive rearing of calves when day old weaning is practiced following points should be adhered strictly. ·         Each calf should be treated individually; it should be weighed weakly and feed according to the body weight and growth response. ·         Group feeding should be avoided to minimize over feeding or under feeding. ·         Calves should be fed twice or more times in a day. One time feeding may cause indigestion and diarrhea results in dehydration. ·         Milk container, milk pails/buckets and other appliances should be kept clean and hygienic. ·         Milk should be boiled and cooled to body temperature (39°C) before feeding. ·         Milk feeding should be 3 or 4 times in a day during the first weak and can be reduced to 2 times in a day up to 90 days of age. ·         Milk allowance should be correct to the body weight of the calf and over feeding should be avoided in the first month of age. ·         If the calves not consume milk, the next allowance should be withheld and it can be drenched with 30-50 ml of castor oil. ·         If the milk or milk replacer contains large amount of foam, it should be removed by drawing a paddle on the surface or by filtering through a clean cloth. ·         Foam causes the calves to take in entrapped air which may lead to bloating. ·         Clean drinking water should be made available all times and the pen floor should be sloped adequately and the pen should kept dry always. ·         To encourage early development of rumen calf should be provided with good quality of hay (leguminous hay) by the first week of age and the same should be provided in a hay rack. ·         Calves should be dewormed in the first week itself for ascariasis. ·         Antibiotics and feed additives should be mixed in the milk or concentrate to improve the growth rate.   Training of calf for pail feeding ·         Weaned calves should be trained to drink milk from pails so that feeding management is easier. ·         Generally crossbred calves learn quickly to drink milk from pail or nipple. But it is little difficult to train buffalo calves. ·         Buffalo calves and lazy and slow in learning to drink milk or milk replacer from the pail or bucket. Training of buffalo calves required patience and efforts. ·         The scheduled quantity of boiled and cooled milk poured in the milk pail and should be moved to the calf. ·         Care should be taken to avoid frightening. ·         The calves should not be forced to drink milk by immersing the head in to the bail. ·         Frightened calves may refuse to come close to the pail. ·         The attendant should first dip his two fingers (index and middle fingers) in to the milk after cleaning and kept close to the mouth of calf. ·         After tasting the milk calf will start suckle the fingers. ·         Gradually the fingers should be lowered to the bail and should be dipped in to the milk. ·         When the calf takes one or two mouthfulls of milk remove the fingers. ·         This process may be repeated whenever the calf stops drinking and lifts its head.

Feeding management of calf ·         Reticulo-rumen is non functional in calves and hence feeding of calves should be treated as non-ruminant and they are not equipped to utilize cellulose. ·         The calves cannot utilize roughages containing higher amount of cellulose. ·         To encourage the early development of rumen and reticulum the calves should be fed with good quality leguminous hay and other roughages. ·         Because of non availability of good quality protein due to lack of ruminal microbial digestion. ·         The calves have little capacity to utilize non-protein nitrogenous coumpo0unds and therefore substance like urea should not be included in their ration. ·         Due to the same reason, B-complex vitamins also are dietary essential for calves in addition to vitamin A and D. ·         For digestion of milk and enzymatic digestion in the abomasums and small intestine is more important that bacterial fermentation in the rumen, which is more wasteful. ·         To avoid this oesophageal groove exist in the reticulum connecting the oesophagus with the omasum. ·         During nursing and milk feeding, the sides of the groove are raised by reflex action to form a tunnel through which milk passes from oesophagus to omasum by-passing the rumen and reticulum. ·         This continues to function even after considerable development of the rumen if milk feeding is continued.   Nurse- Cow method ·         Most of the draught breeds produce milk just sufficient to meet the requirement of calves and calves are allowed to suckle form the mother. ·         But in case of crossbred cows which produce more milk than the requirement of calf, to regulate the milk production and also to avoid over feeding of calves leaving one or two teats for calf while milk out the other is practiced. ·         In nurse- cow method 3 or 4 calves are allowed to suckle one nurse cow. ·         To avoid calf rejection the mucous at the time of calving is applied to all the calves to be adopted by the nurse cow and placed before her to lick and dry. ·         This will help to avoid rejection of calf. The number of calves to be allotted depends on the production level of nurse cow. ·         Use of nurse- cow is an easy alternate way of raising calves and required least managemental skills.

 

Early weaning and whole milk feeding

·         This method calves are weaned at birth and trained to drink milk from nipple or pail. ·         The calves should be weighed every week and the quantity of milk to be fed is calculated accordingly. Recommended feeding schedule- I ( According to age of the calf) ·         If the farmers are not able to weigh the calves as per schedule, calves can also be fed according to its birth weight. . Recommended feeding schedule- II ( According to its body weight) ·         The general guide line is 8, 9, 10, 8 and 5 per cent of the birth weight during 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5t week respectively. ·         Those farmer do not have any mean of finding out the birth weight of calves may judge whether calve is small, medium or large and they can follow the schedule category 2, 4 and 6 respectively (from above table).

 

Economic raising of calve with limited whole milk and calf starter

·         For economic way of raising calves, the whole milk can be substituted with skim milk and calf starter. Skim milk is deficient in energy. ·         It can be supplemented by incorporating grain mixture, sucrose, glucose, dextrin, jaggery, oil and lard. ·         Calves do not have much capacity to utilize sucrose before 4-6 weeks of age and incorporation of this before this age may cause diarrhoea. ·         Jaggery is a cheaply available product. A feeding schedule in which skim milk partially replace whole milk from 5th day and jaggery is introduced from the second week can be followed to produce growth rate similar to whole milk feeding schedule.

 

Feeding schedule for Calf-I Week of age Whole milk Legume hay Calf starter 4th to 7th day 10% of body weight ad lib. ad lib. 2-8th week 10% of body weight ad lib. ad lib. 9th week 10% of body weight – 2 kg ad lib. ad lib. 10th week 10% of body weight – 4 kg ad lib. ad lib.

Feeding schedule for Calf -II

 

Feeding category	Birth weight	Weeks ( kg of whole milk / day)					Total milk
		1	2	3	4	5
1	23-29.5	2.25	2.5	2.7	2.25	1.8	80.0
2	30-33	2.5	2.7	3.0	2.7	1.8	90.0
3	33.5-37.5	2.7	3.0	3.5	3.0	1.8	100.0
4	38-42	3.0	3.5	4.0	3.5	2.25	115.0
5	42.5-46.5	3.5	4.0	4.5	3.5	2.25	125.0
6	47-51	4.0	4.5	5.0	4.0	2.25	140.0
7	Above 51.5	4.5	5.0	5.5	4.5	2.25	150.0

 

Milk replacers

·         Milk replacers or milk substitutes consist basically of skim milk powder and lard or vegetable fat although a proportion of butter milk powder and whey powder is often included. ·         A small proportion of glucose, soyabean flour and cereal flour may also be added together with certain minerals and vitamins. ·         If good quality milk replacer is used, there is no need for feeding any whole milk after the Colostrum feeding.

 

General characteristics of good quality milk replacers ·         Contains minimum 50 per cent spray dried skim milk powder ·         Contains 10-15 per cent stabilized high quality fat, mainly lard homogenized into skim milk or butter milk before spray drying. ·         Supplemented with vitamin A, E and B12. ·         Incorporated with antibiotic feed additives. ·         Should contain 22-25 per cent good quality protein. ·         Should not contain starch or fibre. ·         Should be readily dispersible in water. ·         Should flow well as a powder for automatic feeding equipment. ·         Milk replacer should be mixed in correct proportion in warm water, since dilutions which are too weak or too strong tends to create digestive problems. ·         Optimum ratio of milk replacer (kg) and water (litre) is 1: 8. ·         Good milk replacer composition should contain spray dried skimmed milk powder of 50 parts, dried whey of 10 pars and non-milk source of 40 parts. ·         A good milk replacer suggested by Ohio workers is as follows, Item Amount in kg Dried skim milk 70 Dried whey 18 Lecithin 2 Animal fat 10 Dicalcium phosphate 1.7 Copper sulphates, Ferrous sulphates, Manganese sulphates, Antibiotic Traces

 

	Partial milk replacers
·         The difference between partial milk replacer from milk replacer is that it does not contain high proportions of milk or skim milk powder. ·         An example of a partial milk replacer is Components parts Wheat 10 Linseed meal 40 Milk 23 Coconut oil 10 Butyric acid 0.3 Citric acid 1.5 Mineral mixture 3.0 Antibiotic 0.2 100

Calf starter

·         They are first day concentrate mixture fed to calves. ·         Calves starts eating small amount of dry starter from the 2nd week of life. ·         To train them to eat starter mix, the following procedure may be useful. ·         A calf starter should be highly palatable. ·         It should be high energy (75% TDN) and contain 14-16 per cent digestible crude protein. ·         Calf starter may be fed on free-choice basis until the calf starts consuming about 1-1.5 kg of the starter mix a day after which the amount may be restricted. ·         Generally calves reach this stage by 2 ½ months to 3 months of age. ·         Milk feeding can be discontinued earliest which the calf is consuming 0.4-0.5 kg of concentrate per day deepening upon the breed. A great variety of calf starter are available. ·         The constituents of calf starter may be altered according to the availability of feed in the region and cost.

 

Composition of calf starter Ingredients Parts Maize 42 GNC 35 Wheat bran or rice bran 10 Fish meal 10 Mineral mixture 2 Salt 1

 

CAUSES OF CALF MORTALITY AND CONTROL STRATEGIES

The causes of calf mortality can be divided into infectious and non infectious. Infectious causes include diseases caused by bacteria, viruses or protozoa. The major non-infectious causes are dystocia, improper feeding of colostrum, low birth weight and poor management practices.

Infectious causes

These can be due to any of the following types of microbes:

Rotavirus: Rotaviruses are the most common cause of diarrhoea in neonatal calves between the ages of 4 and 14 days. It is also possible for younger and older calves to become infected with rotavirus. The virus specially attacks the epithelium of the small intestine of young calves. The virus replicates in intestinal epithelial cells near the tips of the villi. Calves infected with rotavirus show watery diarrhoea. The diarrhoea can vary in colour from yellow to green. Infected calves become severely depressed and dehydrated.

Coronavirus: Coronaviruses are one of the most common causes of diarrhoea in calves. It usually affects calves that are between 4 and 30 days old. There are at least three different types of coronaviruses that affect calves, causing diarrhoea, respiratory infections and winter dysentery. Coronavirus infection of the intestine in calves causes profuse watery diarrhoea. Affected calves become dehydrated very quickly and develop a fever and loss of appetite. Incidence of coronavirus in neonatal calf diarrhoea is slightly lower than rotavirus.

Escherichia coli (E. coli): These organisms are part of the normal flora of the intestinal tract. Many strains are harmless to the calf, but certain strains can cause moderate to severe scours and even death. E. coli affects calves within the first 10-14 days of age, usually within the first week. E. coli is often referred to as “white” scours and is the most common cause of calf scours.

Salmonella: Salmonella infections are most frequent and of great concern to young animals. This rod shaped, gram negative organisms are usually motile and produce gastroenteritis with nausea, vomiting, cramps and diarrhoea. The organism can affect calves of any age, but usually affects calves that are over 10 days old. The organism invades the mucosa of the small intestine causing inflammation and erosion of the intestinal lining.

Coccidiosis: There are many species of coccidia – Eimeria zurnii and Eimeria bovis are usually associated with clinical infections in cattle. Coccidiosis has been observed in calves 3 weeks of age and older, usually following stress, poor sanitation, overcrowding or sudden changes of feed. These organisms enter the body through contaminated feed and water. They can remain dormant in manure and soil for up to one year. After entering the intestine, the oocysts (eggs) release protozoa that multiply. They enter into the cells of the intestinal lining decreasing digestion and absorption of feed ingredients. Sub-clinical (chronic) infections show few outward signs, but animals suffer reduced feed consumption, feed conversion and growth. Acute infections result in diarrhoea (often with blood), depression, weight loss, dehydration, but calves will often continue to eat.

Non-Infectious causes:

Improper colostrum feeding: Adequate colostrum feeding provides essential immunoglobulins to the calf. Absorption of immunoglobulins continues up to 48 hours in calves, but maximum absorption occurs within the first 6-8 hours of life. The maternal antibodies protect the calf during the initial 6 months of its life when it is most vulnerable by a process called passive immunity. Compared to hand feeding, suckling is a greater source of absorption of colostral immunoglobulins; therefore, it is generally recommended to allow the calf to suckle its mother for the first two days post-partum. High mortality and morbidity due to diarrhoea, pneumonia and other diseases occurs in immunodeficient calves which do not consume adequate colostrum immediately after birth.

Season of birth: Season has a significant effect on the calf mortality. In a report 40 per cent of total deaths on a farm were recorded during winter season (December to February). Change in climate and severe cold waves results in stress in immunodeficient calves and they become prone to other infections.

Dystocia: This is a major cause of calf mortality due to the tremendous stress that occurs on the calf during a difficult birth. However, research has shown that calving difficulty has long term effects on the immune status of the calf. Hence, calving difficulty has the potential to reduce the passive immunity of the calf and, thus, make it more susceptible to disease. Dystocia is mainly due to abnormal presentation of calf especially posterior and breech presentation. Incidence of dystocia is higher in primiparous dams than in multiparous dams and is also significantly higher when the calf is male.

Sex and birth weight of calf: Mortality is higher in male than in female neonatal calves. Reason for this higher mortality might be due to the fact that absorption of colostral immunoglobulins is less in male than female calves. Birth weight of calves also significantly affects mortality. Too low birth weight and too high birth weight caused greater mortality in calves. Calves having higher birth weight had calving difficulties, whereas those with very low body weight had lesser ability to handle environmental stresses and diseases

Management factors: In calf houses, poor ventilation, overcrowding, inadequate cleaning and disinfection predispose the calves to various diseases, especially those affecting the respiratory tract. Tympany and milk indigestion also play an active role in the neonatal calf mortality. Calves should be allowed to move freely in open spaces and exposed to sunlight to get sufficient Vitamin D. Naval disinfection and removal of mucous from the mouth and nose reduces mortality and morbidity rates in calves.

Control strategies to reduce calf mortality:

General management before birth: The care of calf starts in the womb of animal itself. The maximum growth of calf takes place during the last trimester of pregnancy. So balanced feeding of cow during the last trimester will give birth to a healthy calf and increase in milk production in the subsequent lactation. Feeding of animals during pregnancy with balanced ration including mineral mixture and vitamins will prevent deficiencies in both the cow and the calf. It will also take care of other associated problems like retention of placenta, lazy calving, dystocia, milk fever, calf death and poor calf health.

Care of calf after birth: After the birth of the calf, remove the mucous from its nose and mouth and stimulate breathing. Allow the dam to lick her young one soon after birth to induce maternal instinct and help in cleaning and drying of the newborn. Cut the navel cord about 2 inches away from the abdomen with a sterile blade, ligate it and apply strong tincture iodine solution (7%). Feed colostrum at the rate of 10% of body weight per day in divided doses for the first 4-5 days. Provide a clean, dry resting surface for the calf to ensure that its hair coat stays dry. Protect it from exposure to cold surfaces, low air temperatures and sudden temperature changes. Provide at least 6 inches of bedding as a cushion to minimize physical trauma.

Feeding of calves after birth:

Nutrition and management of neonatal calves has a great impact on their later productivity and longevity. It is essential to feed colostrum to the young one immediately after birth in order to ensure development of adequate immunity until it can produce its own antibodies. Colostrum also has a laxative effect and helps to clear meconium from the gut of the calf. It is a good source of vitamins, minerals, protein and energy. It contains 3-5 times more protein the normal milk and 5-15 times more Vitamin A. At two weeks of age, the calf should be introduced to good quality green fodder and concentrates, as a calf starter. This stimulates the rumen to grow and function properly.

Calf starter mixture: A typical calf starter mixture should have easily digestible good quality low fiber feed. It should contain 22 per cent crude protein and have a TDN of 70-75%. The ingredients used for preparation of calf starter should be of good quality and free from any detrimental adulterants. At the age of 3 months the rumen is developed substantially and microbial digestion takes place in rumen. A palatable ration containing 13-14% CP and 60-62% TDN is required for normal growth. From six month onward the animals can be transferred to coarse fodder and straw based ration.

Deworming: This is one of the most important management practices followed to prevent mortality in calves. Internal parasites in the calf cause diarrhoea, stunted growth, rough skin and a pot belly shaped abdomen. Worms causes huge losses to dairy farmers in terms of feed loss, growth loss and mortality of calves. So it is necessary to deworm the calves at regular intervals to prevent parasitic infection. Growing calves also need to be protected from external parasites like lice, ticks, mites etc. by spraying of animals and livestock sheds with ectoparasiticides regularly.

 

EDITED BY UMESH RAJURKER,DAIRY CONSULTANT,PUNE

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