Canadian National Dairy Study: Heifer calf management

Abstract

In the past decade, substantial changes have occurred in the way dairy heifer calves are managed. The objectives of this study, part of phase I of the 2015 Canadian National Dairy Study, were to examine heifer calf health and adoption of rearing practices, and to explore factors associated with different rearing strategies on Canadian dairy farms. The questionnaire was open to all licensed dairy producers in Canada and had a 12% response rate (n = 1,373). Fifty-one percent of respondents reported never allowing heifer calves to nurse their dam, and 17% always removed calves within 30 min of birth. Sixty-seven percent reported always feeding heifer calves 4 L of colostrum within 12 h of birth; 17% always fed colostrum between 2100 and 0400 h; 5% pasteurized all colostrum fed on farm. Seventy-seven percent of respondents reported calving and stillbirth information for 2014; the mean reported stillbirth rate was 4.9% (SD = 3.3). Forty percent housed calves in individual pens, 34% in group pens, 21% in individual hutches, 2% reported tethering calves, and 1% used group hutches. Of those who housed calves in groups, 59% reported a maximum group size of 3 to 10 calves, 31% reported a pair (2) of calves per pen or hutch, and 10% reported a group >10 calves. The maximum amount of milk offered to calves per day during the preweaned period was a mean of 8 L (SD = 3). Fifty percent of respondents reported mortality data for 2014; mean preweaning mortality was 6.4% (SD = 8.3), and postweaning mortality was 2.4% (SD = 4.4). Over 95% of producers reported disbudding practices; 86% used cautery, 11% used surgical amputation, and 9% used caustic paste. Twenty-eight percent reported disbudding at less than 3 wk of age, 60% at 3 to 8 wk, and 22% at 8 to 16 wk; 5% of respondents reported dehorning at more than 16 wk of age. Sixty-six percent of cautery users reported use of local anesthetic, 33% used sedation, and 25% used a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Multivariable regression models showed that the use of local anesthetic when disbudding calves was associated with social media activity (odds ratio = 2.3) and high-speed internet access (odds ratio = 2.0), whereas sedation was associated with geographic region, and NSAID use was associated with disbudding at more than 3 wk of age. Exploring heifer rearing management practices, including adoption of best practices, may help focus future education and extension efforts. Poor reporting of mortality data may reflect a lack of recordkeeping on farm.

OPEN ACCESS: Insights into UK farmers' attitudes towards cattle youngstock rearing and disease

“…Our results for dairy farms showed 73% did not rely solely on natural suckling to ensure the calf got enough colostrum. This was in-line with a survey of Canadian dairy farmers, where it was found 82% of farmers implemented management practices to ensure the calf got colostrum in the first hours of life (Winder et al, 2018). However, there is still progress to be made in this area, as 46% of calves received 3 litres or less in the first 24 hours, which is well below AHDB recommendations of 6 litres in the first 12 hours.…”

Proposed dairy calf birth certificate data and death loss categorization scheme

“…An additional 6% of dairy heifers die during the preweaning period (USDA, 2018). A Canadian study by Winder et al (2018) reported a stillbirth rate of 4.9% and preweaning mortality of 6.4%, similar to values reported for the United States.…”

Feeding colostrum or a 1:1 colostrum:whole milk mixture for 3 days after birth increases serum immunoglobulin G and apparent immunoglobulin G persistency in Holstein bulls

“…Frequent early measurements of serum IgG, as done within this study and others (Desjardins-Morrissette et al, 2018;Fischer et al, 2018), can improve our understanding of gastrointestinal IgG permeation kinetics to determine what drives between-calf variation. This may help us understand why calves often fail to achieve adequate PT (12.1 and 26.7% of calves with serum IgG <10 and 15 g/L, respectively; Shivley et al, 2018) when 67% of producers report following recommended colostrumfeeding practices (Winder et al, 2018) and 14.2% of FPT continues to occur in calves with no risk factors (Shivley et al, 2018). In particular, deducing why calf responses to colostrum feedings are so variable is critical to ensuring calf welfare and benchmarking should FPT thresholds be increased to serum IgG >15 g/L (Furman-Fratczak et al, 2011) or 20 g/L (Chigerwe et al, 2015) in the near future.…”

“…Currently, 12.1 to 19.2% of calves fail passive transfer (PT; Beam et al, 2009;Shivley et al, 2018) at the commonly used threshold (serum IgG <10 g/L), and we can expect on-farm FPT rates to concurrently rise with an increased FPT threshold, as evidenced by 26.7% of calves having serum IgG <15 g/L (Shivley et al, 2018). This presents an opportunity for the dairy industry to improve newborn calf management practices on-farm and reduce the excessive dairy calf morbidity (33.9%; Urie et al, 2018) and mortality (5.0 to 6.4%; Urie et al, 2018;Winder et al, 2018).…”