Chester Co. Dairy Day featured calf care
3 Continusd Iroai Pjf« ]
favor of the best of care for calves. He underscored the
necessity for good care, as well as the timeliness of it.
The dairy specialist caused a few eyebrows to rise when he
advocated the feeding of a high energy drink - “Galorade," to
be specific - to calves which are down with scours. The
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reasoning behind this is that milk provides bacteria with the
best possible medium for multiplying. Therefore, if the calf is
Infected with pathogens, one step towards making it rough
for the bacteria is to take away the milk and replace it with
something else which would still benefit the calf. “Gatorade”
fits the bill very well, according to Ace. If buying this product
in the supermarket is unpractical for some reason, Ace
recommends mixing your own. The recipe for a high energy
drink for calves is as follows;
Eight tablespoons dextrose, Karo syrup, or honey. (Any
one of these three will do satisfactorily). Two teaspoons of
salt, one teaspoon of baking soda. Place these ingredients in
a one-gallon jug, add water and mix well. The mixture should
be made fresh daily and fed at a rate of about one per cent of
body weight per day. Feedings should be more than twice a
day and continue for about a day and a half. According to Ace
this formula will provide the calf with wholesome nutrition,
while simultaneously more or less starve the pathogens.
Another important point the dairy specialist made was:
“All too often our calf raising facilities are built for us - so it’s
comfortable for us to take care of the calves in.” Vigorously
opposed to maltreatment of calves, Ace urged dairymen to
think more of the well-being of their future dairy cows.
Going over a number of management procedures one at a
time, Ace talked briefly about milk replacers and informed
the group that even a low quality milk replacer can do a good
job with calves - not the best - but good. The feeding of milk
replacers and the results a dairyman sees with them is
directly tied to his management, Ace disclosed.
“Cold surroundings never hurt a healthy, well-fed, dry calf
in the world,” Ace continued. “Cold is devastating only to a
sick animal,” he added. In attempting to have a calf bam
which is the right temperature, Ace cautiorted the dairymen
to not ever just warm the bam up without taking humidity
levels and ventilation into consideration, because it could
result in multiplying the problem.
One of the most beneficial things a farmer can do for his
calf-raising program is to see to it that each new-born calf
comes into the world in clean surroundings and with
colostrum from his mother waiting for it. He noted that
colostrum contains 10 times the amount of Vitamin A, three
to four times the amount of antibodies, and at least twice the
amount of protein, fat and other milk solids that regular milk
has. Therefore, to take advantage of this milk, Ace recom
mends feeding it right away - before disease organisms have
a head start to enter the calf’s digestive tract. He noted that a
calf, has no defense mechanisms heat regulatory system
UNTIL colostrum is made available to it.
Rather than have the calf try to find its way to the “spigot”
and take a chance of it not being found, Ace recommends that
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the dairyman milk the cow himself and offer it to the calf as
soon after birth as possible. What’s more, he suggests that
the colostrum from the FIRST milking be saved for the
second and third feedings because subsequent milkings will
not yield an equally nutritious product. He says the calf
should drink about one pound of colostrum for its first meal.
While stressing the importance of cleanliness throughout
his presentation, Ace admitted it would be Impossible to
sanitize every phase of a calf-raising program. Nevertheless,
he advised farmers to strive for the cleanest conditions
possible and added “I would like to see you use the same
clean procedures for calves as what you produce milk with.”
Organisms need three basic conditions to survive and
multiply, which are 1. food, 2. water, and 3. warmth. Ace
said that if any of these three are removed from the scene,
“then you’ve got him (the organism) by the tail on a down
hill pull.”
The elimination of stress factors is of utmost importance,
Ace stated. Without that initial colostrum the calf has nothing
to produce body heat with nor defend itself against germs.
Without the advantage of colostrum the calf is off to a bad
start. Add to that dirty and drafty surroundings and the calf
is in serious trouble.
With so many different housing plans available for calves,
and many of them working satisfactorily, Ace spoke in
general terms and touched mainly on the importance of
humidity, draft, moisture, temperature and cleanliness. On
the subject of humidity in particular, he said that the higher
the humidity, the higher the calf losses are likely to be.
Cleanliness is important for more than just the calf, Ace
explained. A dirty maternity pen, for example, is a likely
place for cows to pick up germs in their reproductive tract
which later lead to breeding problems. He also noted that the
bacteria which cause scours and breeding difficulties are
often one and the same.
On the feeding of mastitic milk to calves, Ace frowned upon
it for younger calves, but saw no reason to oppose the
practice for older calves. He did not advise the feeding of
treated milk, however, explaining that the antibiotics could
kill beneficial bacteria within the calf’s stomach. An ex
planatory note should be added here in that mastitic milk
usable for older calves is the kind which is still normal in
appearance.
The discolored stuff with chunks of white cheesy material
floating in it is good for nothing. In making these remarks,
Ace added a note of caution in that calves fed mastitic milk
could spread the disease to other young heifers if (hey have
an opportunity to suck their udders.
Sour colostrum received a favorable evaluation from Ace,
and he also acknowledged it is being very well received by
dairymen all across the state.
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