Calf management for dairy

Raising calves is a profession, a career and an art. The progression of a new born calf to a high

producing dairy cow entails more than most dairy products consumer realize and it involves

knowledge, skill, long hours of hard work, a large capital investment and truthfully, a little luck.

Through proper feeding, management and health practices reduced death rates are achieved,

increased weight gain and so on. The annual economic loss of higher –than- necessary death losses

and older-than-necessary heifers at calving must be a staggering.

The goal of raising dairy heifer calves is to produce an animal that is suitable as a replacement at

the dairy. The ideal replacement heifer;

Should weigh 1300 pounds (560kgs) or more at calving without being fat

Should be in good health throughout its growth period

Will be approximately 24 months of age at calving

Is genetically and physically a more desirable animal than the one she is replacing.

The genetics of this heifer determine what her potentials are. How she is raised, fed and managed

determine what she will do. When a calf is born, someone has at least a two year investment in her

with no return on that investment to that time. Her longevity in the milking herd and her milking

ability will determine whether that investment is returned along with a reasonable profit. Longevity

and the milking ability are highly related to how she was raised. There are several phases in raising

dairy calves and they include:-

Phase 1:

Pre-calving

Extra attention to the feeding and management of the dry cow can be extremely important to the

health and well-being of the new born calf. Proper feeding and management of the dry cow will

also yield additional pounds of milk during her lactation and fewer post-calving complications.

Feeding the dry cow

The dry cow’s nutrient requirements are small compared to those of heavily lactating cow. When

the cow dries off, her body condition should be what you would like it to be when she calves it is

generally agreed that a body condition score of 3.0-3.5 in a scale of 1-5 is desirable. The type and

quality of forage available will determine the amount of grain she will require.

Managing the dry cow

A few days prior to calving down the cow should be placed in a clean, dry and draft –free

environment. One should try to be with the cow at the time of calving. Calving assistance often

prevents birthing fatalities of healthy calves.

Phase II:

Birth to weaning

Make sure that the calf’s throat and nasal passages are clear. If they are not, manually clear them

with your fingers. The cow will usually lick the calf within a few minutes after birth. Disinfect

the naval and its importance as soon as after birth cannot be over emphasized. Disinfection with

a tincture of iodine solution will help prevent invasion of disease organism into the calf’s body,

Colostrum is important due to the calf’s rapidly declining ability to absorb the immunoglobulin

contained in the colostrum. Twelve hours after birth, the calf’s ability to absorb this

immunoglobulin is half of what it was at birth.

The high levels of immunoglobulin contained in the colostrum are essential for the calf to develop

adequate defenses against disease organism. Colostrum should be taken from all four quarters and

fed as a mixture.

Either coarse – textured feeds or small pellets may be fed on started feed to calves and it should

contain a minimum of 16 -18% crude protein. Started feeds should begin at one week of age if

high – quality chopped hay is available, it may be fed at seven days of age. Begin by placing

approximately a half a cup in the feed bucket prior to feeding milk replace. Gradually increase as

the calf eats more.

Table 1: Below shows intensive calf feeding on milk in litrers and concentrates in kgs and

schedule from birth to weaning (Courtesy of Baraka farm)

Age (weeks) Milk (Litres) Concentrates in (kgs)

1 4 0

2 5 0

3 6 Hand

4 6 Hand

5 5 0.5

6 5 0.5

7 4 1

8 3 1

9 2 1

10 1 2

11 0.5 2

12 0 2

To ensure that a calf feeds normally the following shows daily feeding form that ensures feed

intake is normal as well as an approximate feed left over after feeding.

Management practices

Follow these guidelines for successful calf production

Identify calves at birth. Use ear tags or some other acceptable identification method so that

records may be accurately kept of calf’s breeding health.

Observe calves closely a minimum of twice daily

Keep calves in separate pens for up to twelve weeks.

Keep drinking pails, automatic waterers, and feed pails 20 inches off the floor.

Keep stalls and pens draft – free and avoid sudden temperature changes.

Always use clean pails and bottles.

Always provide clean, fresh water.

Observe calves closely for external and internal parasites.

Dehorn and remove supernumerary teats before two months of age.

Phase 3:

Weaning to six months of age

The next stage in the development of the replacement heifer is her growing phase. At the end of

this stage, the larger- breed calves, Holstein and Brown Swiss, should weigh at least 400 pounds.

These weight goal need to be met if the calf is to achieve her proper breeding weight at 15 months

of age. The proper nutritional content of this feed will depend upon quality of the forages to which

they have access.

Management practices

Calves are not eating large quantity of forages and are not mature enough to obtain large amounts

of nutrients from them. For these reasons certain management practices should be followed which

will allow the calf a better opportunity to consume her grain and forages.

Always group calves in groups of similar age and size. This helps to eliminate competition for

feed from older more aggressive cattle. It also aid in reducing the spread of infectious disorders

from the older heifers to younger.

Smaller groups of five calves are always preferable because it eliminates competition and aid

in disease control. Smaller groups are easier to handle if one needs special attentions.

There should be enough feed bunk space to allow all calves to eat at the same time.

Only high-quality, fresh forages should be fed and be fed frequently especially silage.

Never feed left over hay or grain from another group of cows and calves.

Never overfeed.

Feed grains and forages that are nutritionally balanced for protein, energy, vitamins and

minerals. This will ensure thrifty and economical growth.

Phase 4:

Six to fifteen months (Breeding)

The goal at the end of this stage is to have a heifer that is of the desired size (weight and maturity)

to breed. A heifer’s size rather than her actual age determines her age at puberty, age at breeding

and ease of calving. Research has demonstrated and experience has proven that heifers can calve

at 24 months of age and be as productive as those that calve at older ages. Because they calve 2-5

months sooner, they have less money invested in them large breed heifers should weigh

approximately 850 pounds at 15 months of age and be approximately 50 inches tall at the withers.

Small breed heifers should weight

Approximately 500 (pounds 230 kgs). Heifers should not be permitted to become fat as this

predisposes them to a number of problems.

Management practices

Heifers should be grouped by size and age to prevent competition for feed. The heifers should be

fed 3-4 pounds of a grain mixture per day. The nutrient profile of this fed will depend upon the

quality and availability of the forages the heifer is fed. The ration should be a balanced for

protein, energy, vitamins and minerals. The forage to grain ratio is important in all the growing

phases. If the right amount of grain is fed, the heifer should consume the proper amount of

forage to keep her forage-to –grain ratio at the right level.

VACCINATIONS

Disease forms an important part of livestock and farming without understanding how diseases

affect your farm can be disastrous. When animals are healthy they deliver better products. Diseases

especially caused by a virus and even bacteria are always difficult to cure, because they do not

have a specific drug to treat hence a huge impact. Therefore, the best way to prevent these

infections is through immunization or vaccination where the animal’s body can form antibodies

for a disease hence destroy the etiological agents thereby the stronger the animals immunity the

better chances it has to fight the diseases.

It also important to note that disease may occur on your farm and this helps in planning yearly

vaccine program for the herd so as to prevent diseases.

The main vaccinations undertaking place in most of the farms include (Courtesy of Baraka farm)

1. Black quarter /anthrax vaccine

The vaccine used in this case is blanthrax.

As directed by the vaccine (follow vaccine, program) farmers should vaccinate their animals

regularly and vaccine is mostly active for six months therefore it is done twice a year, that is, after

every six months.

2. Lumpy skin disease

The vaccine used in this case is lumpivax vaccine

To calves they should be administered when they have attained age of six months old

3. Brucellosis disease

Vaccinate heifers with strain S-19 vaccine at age of between 8-12 months old.

4. Foot and mouth disease

Fotivax vaccine is used and is active for approximately three months therefore, vaccination is done

3-4 times a year.

Phase 5:

Breeding to near –calving

If heifers have been properly fed and managed up to the time of breeding, feeding grain should not

be necessary, good quality hay will contain adequate protein and energy. If poor or average –

quality hay is fed, they will require 2-3 pounds of grain. Again, the ration should be balanced for

protein, energy, vitamins and minerals. Free choice minerals and salt will need to be available. Be

careful not to overfeed. Excessive fattening may reduce the heifer’s longevity and producing

ability and predispose her to a variety of metabolic disorders.

Phase 6:

Near calving

Sixty days prior to calving, the heifer should be properly fed with a balanced ration for protein,

energy, vitamins and minerals. Thirty days prior to calving, she should be switched over to the

milking herd’s ration. Gradually increase the amount of feed until it reaches steaming up

recommendations. Heifers that are fed and managed properly throughout their various maturing

phase, are capable of calving at 24 months of age. If everything has gone according to schedule,

these heifers will have minimized calving difficulties and will have the opportunity to meet their

genetic potential with the right genetic potential; these animals should have the ability to

outperform the animals they are replacing.

Calving pen

Recommend calving area should have the following conditions

i) A pen where a cow must be free to move around yet confined enough for easy observation.

ii) A pen should be well ventilated to reduce humidity and disease.

iii) A pen should be disinfected regularly to control diseases.

Pen should be kept clean and dry

Calf feeding

Young calves need more than milk to become top producing cows as they are the insurance for the

continuous dairy farming. An early concentrate intake promotes a well-developed and healthy

rumen.

Colostrum should be fed to the new borne calf as soon as possible. The ideal practice is to get the

colostrum into the calf within a half an hour after birth. Since this is not always possible, a general

rule is to feed the colostrum within two hours after birth.

The easiest method of feeding colostrum is to let the calf nurse for the first 3 days, but dairy farmer

has little idea of how much the calf is eating. More accurate methods of feeding milk are to use

nipple pail, nipple bottle or open pail. All the three are satisfactory provided they are kept clean.

The amount of colostrum fed the first days depends on the size and breed of the calf. A good rule

of thumb is to feed colostrum which is equal to about 6% of the calf’s weight. Example for Friesian

calf weighing 37 kgs ( Litresx 22.237100

6

Colostrum is generally fed for as long as the cows produce it and is about 3 days or six feedings.

After the 3 days calf can be fed on whole milk, milk replaces or sour colostrum. The calf then

receives a limited amount of whole milk until it’s weaned.

Weaning is the process of removing milk or milk products from calf’s diet. Calf receives dry feed

and water ration, most nutrient a calf is receiving come from grain therefore, it’s important to

ensure the grain meet all the nutritional needs of the calf and can be weaned when its taking 1- 1½

kg of dry feed per day.

Early weaning is important to a dairy farmer because it lowers calf raising costs, less dependence

on milk reduces chances of scours and helps calf rumen to develop sufficiently to begin digesting

forages and grain.

Its best to weigh young calves periodically to determine the growth of calves and thereby the

success of the feeding program and when calf’s age and weight are known, the young animals can

be compared to other calves.

Calf housing and hygiene

Housing facilities for calves should be planned to accommodate each developing stage of a calf

from its birth until it is ready to enter the milking herd. Housing provided must be suitable to

climate of a particular area and it should produce clean warm dry environment. Individual calf

pens provide effective separation for each calf and this prevents naval sucking and reduces the

spread of disease through facial or other direct contact, it also allows individual feeding and

ensures clear identification of each calf.

On the veterinary surgeons advisory visit the whole calf unit needs to be assessed to see how the

calves, people, food and water, urine and solid manure are moved within the buildings or yards.

As far as possible the crossing of pathways should be avoided. In particular, the movement of

contaminated material should be by the shortest and quickest route to a safe place to prevent it

being a further hazard. Feed should be used sequentially to avoid staleness and be kept in dry areas.

Adequate clean water is an obvious necessity and ensures they are always functioning correctly

and clean. Calf units should be avoided to by visitors and the use of separate staff for sick and

healthy groups should be practiced on possible especially where infectious infections are involved.

A proper washing facility for the staff on the sire helps promote good hygienic practices. However,

the principle of regular destocking and cleaning houses in the most important factor in breaking

the cycle of infection in calf houses finally, whoever, is ultimately responsible for the success of

the calf unit must ensure that facilities are used correctly and above rules discussed are adhered to

at all times.

For a sound healthy herd, calf management must be observed at all stages.

Kamadi Victor Bill- B.Sc. Animal Science

Project Officer-Food Security & Livelihoods, World Vision Kenya

Phone No. 0724025581, 0787681861

Email: kamadibill@yahoo.com, Victor-kamadi@wvi.org

Skype: bill.Kamadi