Veal calf health on the day of arrival at growers in Ohio

Abstract

Veal calves are at high risk for disease and mortality in early life. Calves face a number of stressors before arriving at the grower, including long transport times, which may contribute to poor health. Our objectives were to 1) estimate the prevalence of poor health outcomes in veal calves on arrival at growers in Ohio; 2) determine risk factors for health outcomes on arrival, including BW and auction site (spread across 5 states in the Northeastern United States); and 3) determine if health outcomes on arrival predict early mortality. A physical examination was conducted on approximately 30 calves (mean of 45.9 kg [SD 3.0]) from 12 cohorts ( = 383 calves). Exams included a blood sample to determine packed cell volume (an estimate of dehydration using a cutoff > 46%) and total protein (an estimate failure of passive transfer using a cutoff < 5.5 g/dL and 6.0 g/dL to account for dehydration). Diarrhea, respiratory disease, depression, navel inflammation, and a skin tent test (a second indicator of dehydration) were also recorded. Mortality within 4 wk of age was collected from farm records. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the prevalence of calves with poor health outcomes on arrival. Generalized linear mixed models were used to identify risk factors for poor health on arrival and assess if poor health increased the incidence risk of mortality. Upon arrival, 6% (95% confidence interval 4.4 to 7.6%) of calves had failure of passive transfer using a cut-off of 5.5 g/dL, and 22.5% (18.1 to 26.8%) had failure of passive transfer using a cut-off of 5.5 g/dL, and 22.5% (18.1 to 26.8%) had failure of passive transfer using a cut-off of 6.0%; 14% (9.1 to 18.8%) had diarrhea, 0.5% (0 to 1.3%) had respiratory disease, 14% (8.5 to 19.3%) were depressed, and 27% (22.7 to 30.7%) had inflamed navels. In addition, 35.1% (23.5 to 46.6%) of calves were dehydrated using a skin tent test, but only 1.3% (0.0 to 2.9%) were dehydrated based on the packed cell volume threshold. Auction site was associated with depression on arrival ( = 0.008) and tended to be associated with skin tent on arrival ( = 0.08). None of the health variables were predictors of early mortality; however, mortality was generally low for all cohorts (4.3%; range 1.7 to 6.8%). These results estimate the prevalence of dehydration, diarrhea, navel inflammation, and depression in veal calves on arrival at growers and demonstrate that some health outcomes are dependent on auction site. We conclude that there are many opportunities to intervene to improve their health and welfare before the calves arrive at the grower.

Effect of health status evaluated at arrival on growth in milk-fed veal calves: A prospective single cohort study

“…As the level of dehydration was associated with mortality (Renaud et al, 2018), the former may be true. Long transport has been shown to cause dehydration in young calves (Mormede et al, 1982;Knowles et al, 1997) and as calves are not provided with water during transit, transportation may be responsible for the high prevalence of dehydration (Pempek et al, 2017). Some degree of dehydration can be alleviated by providing electrolytes during transit, but the benefits are minor and this strategy may not be practical to implement in a commercial setting (Knowles et al, 1999).…”

“…Thus, provision of oral fluids before departure from the dairy farm of origin could be a practical strategy to consider, where the fluids could alleviate any dehydration present before departure and mitigate the losses of fluids that may occur during transit. As dehydration is a common finding in calves arriving at veal facilities (Wilson et al, 2000;Pempek et al, 2017), more research is necessary to identify reasons for its high prevalence and strategies to reduce its impact on mortality and growth.…”

“…Many calves enter the veal industry with health abnormalities (Bähler et al, 2012;Pempek et al, 2017;Renaud et al, 2018), some of which are associated with a greater risk of mortality (Renaud et al, 2018). Thus, establishing that initial health status affects growth would emphasize the need to selectively treat these calves at arrival and, more importantly, to prevent these conditions before arrival at the veal facility.…”

Short communication: The effect of diarrhea and navel inflammation on the lying behavior of veal calves

“…Male neonatal calves used for veal are highly susceptible to disease in early life. Two recent studies in North America have found that approximately 13 to 14% of calves arrive at growing facilities with diarrhea and that 26 to 27% arrive with abnormal or inflamed navels (Pempek et al, 2017;Renaud et al, 2018). At growing facilities, calves are often housed in individual pens with hard, slatted floors, presenting challenges for calf comfort.…”

“…On the day of arrival (cohort 1; n = 45 calves) or the third day after arrival (cohorts 2 and 3; n = 40 calves/ cohort), every third calf was fitted with a 3-dimensional accelerometer (Hobo Pendant G data loggers; Onset Computer Corp., Bourne, MA) on 1 of their hind legs (n = 125 calves across all 3 cohorts) using a plastic leg band and 3M VetWrap (3M, Maplewood, MN). This sample size was determined using a power analysis that included estimations of health effects from dairy cows and calves (Borderas et al, 2008;Cyples et al, 2012;Fogsgaard et al, 2012) and disease prevalence at arrival from previous studies on veal calves (Pempek et al, 2017;Renaud et al, 2018). We estimated needing least 12 calves in each health category and a total of 92 calves enrolled in the study to obtain this sample size; we intentionally recruited an additional 33 calves to ensure that we would obtain an adequate sample size for each health category after losses due to early mortalities or mechanical errors from the accelerometers.…”