Although temperatures are beginning to rise, calves are still at risk of contracting pneumonia. Take a look at some of the common causes as well as our effective solutions below:

Causes

• Variation in high day temperatures and low night temperatures. If greater than 13°C, animals are at a higher risk of pneumonia
• Poor shed ventilation, i.e. leaving doors open in the late evening
• Overstocking sheds. As calves grow, they require more ground and air space

Solutions 

• Treat all symptoms immediately
• Provide shelter, space and keep calves rehydrated at all times
• Boost calf immunity by feeding Vitameg in both milk and feed

Vitameg

Vitameg is a feeding supplement with prebiotic and Omega-3 for young ruminants.

Vitameg’s combination of ingredients when fed to young ruminants will:

• Increase feed intakes.
• Stimulate rumen development.
• Increase daily live weight gain.
• Support calf natural defence mechanism.
• Improve digestibility

View our Vitameg brochure 

To find out more, contact your local distributor 

Key Areas to Monitor:

1. Body Condition Scores (BCS): Are your cows holding their pre-calving BCS? If your cows are losing condition in the weeks post calving, it must be addressed promptly by seeking professional advice.
2. Dung Consistency: Dung that appears firm indicates that the cow’s diet may be too low in protein and too high in fibre. A loose and thin consistency suggests excess protein/carbohydrates or low fibre, which may possibly lead to acidosis.
3. Milk Fat to Protein Ratio: The ratio of fat:protein is an excellent indicator of cow health and feed efficiency. The ideal butterfat:protein ratio is circa 1.27:1. Where the ratio goes above 1.5:1, strict attention should be paid to cow health as there is a strong possibility of Ketosis in the affected animals. Where the ratio drops below 1.2:1, a possible link to Rumen Acidosis exists.

Key Tips:

1. Maximise dry matter intake (DMI) through a well-balanced diet formulation and continuous assessment of rations fed to cows.
2. Ensure that there is a minimum of 600-800 mm feed space per cow, along with ample drinking points.
3. Introduce concentrates slowly over a five to ten day period post calving. Adding concentrates too quickly in an attempt to provide energy is a recipe for Sub Acute Rumen Acidosis. Introducing a high quality rumen buffer such as Rumicare from Agritech will help counteract rumen and intestinal acidity and has the added benefit of providing much needed calcium, magnesium and sodium for the early lactating dairy cow.
4. Continue to analyse you cow’s BCS on a regular basis. It is vitally important to maintain adequate BCS to ensure that the cow quickly returns to cyclicity in advance of the breeding season.
5. Supplementation of post calving minerals is a much neglected area as many dairy farmers assume there are enough minerals in the purchased concentrate. However, unless there are very high levels being fed, this is rarely the case. The post calving diet needs to be carefully monitored to ensure that the cow receives adequate levels of macro and trace minerals at this important time.Take a look at our new 2019 Welmin Mineral Range brochure here, which features a number of products suitable to help you get the most from your freshly calved cow.
6. Introduce grazed grass in to the diet. It is important to align the indoor ration to match up with the grazed grass level being fed in order to optimise cow performance and health.

For further advice, contact your local Agritech distributor. 

As we await the arrival of an ever superior generation of calves over the coming months, it is now worthwhile to take a closer look at young calf nutrition when planning ahead for the busy season.

Members of the Agritech team recently attended a Calf Performance Conference at the Blanca Research Facility in Spain which featured presentations from many renowned researchers, including Professor Alex Bach.

According to Agritech’s Sales Director, John Kenny, “From the conference, it became clear to me that at a level, we are significantly restricting the potential of our calves in this country with the level of milk replacer we feed to them. While this is fine for young calves which are destined for beef, it is totally uneconomical to take this approach with dairy female calves.

Feed efficiency runs at the rate of 60% in a young calf compared to just 7% in a pre-calving two year old heifer. I believe that our national dairy herd has much more to gain by taking a closer look at this area going forward.”

Pre-Weaning  

Farmers today are very well informed when it comes to the area of managing and feeding adequate amounts of colostrum to the new born calf in a timely manner. However, the benefits of achieving maximised weight performance from day two to weaning are far less documented in Ireland.

Let’s take an example of the calf’s mammary gland. When a dairy heifer calf is born, its mammary gland constitutes just 1% of its total body weight. If the daily live-weight gain of this calf is inadequate up to weaning, this key organ will most likely remain at this percentage. However, if calf performance is raised up to as near as possible to 1kg per head per day, the cells in this key gland will continuously split and multiply to the extent where the mammary gland will increase to approximately 2% of the calf’s body weight at 9-10 weeks of age.

While the above example highlights the mammary gland, the benefits of accelerated growth pre-weaning are applicable to all of the key organs in the young calf’s body, including heart, lungs, kidneys etc. The long term benefits of achieving a better developed calf at weaning with bigger and stronger organs are proven to deliver significant lifetime benefits through increased daily yields and improved disease immunity. It is also now widely accepted that the effects of increased growth pre-weaning on first lactation alone is circa +300 litres milk yield.

John states that that there is no such thing as compensatory growth with this approach to calf rearing. “Once the cells in each organ stop dividing at in or around the nine or ten week stage, they grow in line with the rest of the animal’s body thereafter. Farmers will only get one chance in a calf’s lifetime to secure this advantage.”

Vitalac Calf Milk Replacer

Agritech work with leaders in calf nutrition to bring a calf milk replacer range which will encourage accelerated growth and performance. Agritech’s Vitalac Calf Milk Replacer Range from Nukamel offers a well-balanced level of highly digestible fat and protein via carefully selected, high quality ingredients. These quality ingredients are further enhanced through the use of advanced techniques and technology such as Emulsizym and Spray Cooling Technology. 

Tried and tested by Teagasc at Grange Research Institute, Vitalac Milk Replacers for calves showed increases in live weight gain and concentrate intakes of 8% and 10% over other leading brands on the market. Vitalac Calf Milk Replacer is highly soluble and suitable for both bucket and/or automatic feeding systems.

For more information on the Vitalac Calf Milk Replacer Range and calf rearing, contact your local distributor or click here.