A32>Uncts*r Firming, Saturday, March 6 1993 VERNON ACHBNBACH JR. Lancnater Farming Staff LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.) Farmen who attended the second installment of Lancaster County Extension’s Dairy Days program Tuesday were provided a variety of usable information for belter managing their operations. Lancaster County’s annual offering has developed into a two day affair. The first day. held Feb. 23, was practically identical to Lebanon County’s program, held Feb. 24. The second day for Lancaster is unique. During the Erst program, fea tured was Paul Gteenough, recen tly retired froth the Western Col lege of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatchewa, Canada. Gteenough is an expert on cattle hoof struc ture, care, genetics, and management. While his indepth and fact-filled talk comprised the majority of the first day ’ s program, the second day for Lancaster County offered expert advice on a variety of prac tical dairy issues. Arlyn “Jud” Heinrichs, with Penn State University, talked about the importance of feeding colostrum to calves during his talk on meeting the needs of growthy heifers. According to Heinrichs, dairy men in the Northeast are doing the worst job. on a national basis, of getting the recommended amounts of antibiotics into the bloodstream of their calves. He said that the study, done by pulling blood samples from a large number of calves, showed that Mood serum levels of antibiotics were relatively low in calves in the Northeast, which is where many older cattle management tech niques persist. He said research has also shown that dairymen ate doing a much better job of getting antibiotics into calves than they had been. He said a study that looked at 80 percent of the dairy production industry showed that about 20 per cent still manage raising calves in an unassisted manner, which Hein richs said is of concern to him, because those calves are not get ting the advantages of protection from life-threatening illnesses afford those calves which get from three to four quarts of high quality colostrum within the first 24 hours. Heinrich talked about the vari ableness in quality of colostrum, from the standpoint of antibody levels. In the past, experts have explained tint in order to get the best care to a calf to minimize mor tality. enough antibodies need to Lancaster Dairy Days II Offers Range Of Tips get to the linings of the intestinal tract to protect the wall from attack by bacteria and other destructive organisms. The key to doing that is to get at least three quarts of colostrum into the belly of a newborn calf before the calf starts to lick and mouth dif ferent things. While assisted feeding from the dam is an acceptable means for getting colostrum into a calf, it poses more potential problems, and in practice, more problems, than bottle or bucket feeding colostrum. Though some animal' rights activists and those who hold to “natural practice” philosophies have stated support for non intervention in getting calves to get colostrum, all research data readily available shows that calves are healthier, perform better and have a higher chance of survival if they are given three to four quarts of high quality colostrum as soon as possible. One researcher had expressed its importance as a lifc-tnd-death race between the farm manager getting the colostrum into the ani mal and the animal’s intestinal tract being infested by bacteria and pathogens. If the bacteria get there first, they do irreparable damage. If the antibodies get there first, within the first hours, they protect the intestinal lining, which is where the calves absorb nutrients. There is a much greater chance of a calf becoming infested with pathogens before getting the pro tective colostrum if management is left to nature. Heinrichs also suggested that herd managers also get and use an esophogeal tube to use in those instances when a calf is too weak to suckle properly from a bottle or bucket Though some unfamiliar with the technique of “force feeding” three or four quarts of colostrum to a calf may consider it to be an abuse of an animal, Heinrichs said it is far from that First of all, he said, the tube is inserted through the aid of the calf s natural sucking response. He said that if some colostrum is smeared around the exterior of the smooth end of the tube, the calf practically inserts the tube itself. Heinrichs said there is truly no force used in force feeding colo strum with the esophogeal tubes. The amount of colostrum is as important as the quality, for what the calf needs are high levels of antibodies in the colostrum. Hein richs said that two or fewer quarts of colostrum within the first 24 hours are not enough to deliver the proper amount of protection. “We have a fair number of calves at high risk because of low levels of antibodies,” Heinrichs said, adding that research shows that as many as five out of every 10 calves in the Northeastern United States has low level of antibodies. The survivability of calves which receive adequate levels of colostrum is higher. Another way to lookat .it is that the mortality rate of those calves not receiving adequate levels of colostrum is twice that of calves receiving at least adequate levels. Heinrichs explained that the way colostrum works is that the first big amount of colostrum which goes in three to four quarts during the first feeding, which should be within the first hours of the 24-hour period fol lowing birth clots up into a pro tein and fat ball within the abuma sum. The antibodies are more or less squeezed out and pass on to the intestines. The longer the delay to get the colostrum into die animal, die less effective the treatment. After 24 hours, it won’t make a difference, because the intestinal walls won’t use the antibodies. Heinrichs said that while high fljffffßfffc dtwg AMTI ATTfiFPQ r Wfr Take ’em Down! We Will Assemble & Deliver Bins To Your Farm Northeast Agri Systems, FLYWAY BUSINESS PARK 139 A West Airport Rd. mm Lititz. PA 17543 (717) 569-2702 1-800-673-2580 mm - v AL quality colostrum is key to getting calves off to a good start, the best way to get good colostrum is to have a good management program for the dry cows so they are healthy and can make the antibody rich first milk. For weaning. Heinrichs said that should be done within the first three to eight weeks. “They are ruminents. Feed them as rumi nents, not as a (onc-stomachcd) animal,” Heinrichs said. He suggested getting the on grain, water and then forage. In that order of importance. He also said that as far as forage goes, the first feed should be of top palatability, especially the first hay offered. “When you’re feeding a calf, grab and squeeze the hay as hard as you can. and if have to pull slivers (of stem) out, its probably not going to like it.” For socialization, he also recommended the use of putting the animals in small groups of about equal age. He said the first grouping exper ience “has a tremendous impact” on the social behavioral develop ment of the animal. “The first experience has to be a good one,” Heinrichs said, adding that farmers should especially be sure to pro vide a clean dry stall area with lots of ventilation. For radon formulations, Hein richs said that ration balancing should be done for four different stages in development from weaning to six months age; from six months to breeding age; from breeding age to pre-calving; and then for pre-calving. The matter of developing a pre calving ration and making the transition toamilking dict,isj*ob aUy the weakest area in current dairy farm management practice, he said. The feed materials for dry mat ter should be tested, even if the material is being used because of Master Distributor poor quality. Heinrichs said this is so because it doesn’t matter how bad the starting main ingredients are. What matters is knowing how much and what type of nutrients are included on a dry matter basis so that a ration can be balanced to the nutrient level the animal needs. Also, despite some recent claims that research is immenent that would show that a dairy herd can be pushed to grow to full adult size and calve when 18 months to 22 months of age, Heinrichs said that was a mistake. “We know that growing too fast before puberty can cause long term affects on mammary growth and development,” he said. Other problems are caused, especially laminitis, which is a result of high levels of lactic acid in the animals bloodstream which most commonly is directly related to the ration. Abo talking during the dairy day were James Ferguson, from University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Kcnnctt Square, who b heavily involved with prac tical dairy research; and David Galligan. also from New Bolton, who has been looking at old prob lems in some new ways, such as the actual follow-up results to cows that had corrective surgery for a displaced abomasum. Ferguson talked about hb work on using prostaglandin injections on a repeated 14-day cycle to do a better job of breeding bock cattle and being in a position to make culling decisions for Other, prob lems, such as dairy produettan. His presentation has been reported previously in Lancaster Farming. Abo during the dairy day, a panel discussion was held which was comprised of three farmers and a nutritionist for a Franklin County feed cooperative associa tion. The topic for the panel was working with a nutritionist to max imize profits. Custom Applications Inc. FOR FREE ESTIMATES CAU. OUR TOLL-FREE CUSTOMER * SERVICE NUMBER: 1*800^73-2980 7:30-4:30 Sat. 7:30*11:30
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