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The Scoop, December 2011
New & Exciting Prodcuts for Winter

The Town & Country Feed Division offers a complete line of custom formulated calf feeds along with a full line of Land O’Lakes milk replacers, starter feeds, and intense calf feeding programs.

Our on-staff calf nutrition specialists can formulate a calf feeding and management program that will meet the needs and goals of today’s dairy operation.

Click here to visit Quality Liquid Feeds

Calving Ease from Attica Veterinary Associates

Special Care for the Dystocia Calf (Calving Ease January 2012)

Calving difficulty, sometimes called dystocia, affects between 13 to 15 % of Holstein calves.
48-hour survival rates drop drastically for calves when deliveries require 2 or more persons, mechanical or surgical intervention compared to unassisted births.
120-day survival rates for calves when deliveries require 2 or more persons, mechanical or surgical intervention are 70 % less than unassisted births.
Treatment rates are higher for dystocia calves (scours 17%, pneumonia 70%) compared to calves experiencing unassisted births.
Providing special care, both in the first few hours and first two weeks, can cut both death losses and treatments for scours and/or pneumonia.
Read More>>

Navel Dipping: Advantages and Alternatives (Calving Ease December 2011)

Summary:

• The frequency of navel infections has been connected to (1) cleanliness of calving environment, (2) cleanliness of calf pen or hutch, (3) adequacy of colostrum management, (4) navel dipping.

• Consistent use of navel dip for newborn heifer calves using a recommended protocol results in fewer deaths and infections than not dipping navels.

• Calves with navel infections grow more slowly than those without infections.

• Where 7% tincture of iodine navel dip is not available, a chlorhexidine (Nolvasan) solution or tincture is an acceptable alternative.
Read More>>

Colostrum Testing and Feeding (Calving East November 2011)
Summary:
• When testing colostrum quality for antibody concentration the most reliable values will come from fully milking out the cow at her first milking. Take a sample from the milker bucket to use with a Colostrometer or Brix refractometer.
• Hand-milked colostrum (first 3 or 4 quarts) will have the same antibody concentration as if the cow was milked out entirely.
• Only about 40% of calves will voluntarily consume 3 or more quarts in the first feeding.
• Always have a person available who is trained to use an esophageal tube feeder. It is common to have as many as 3 out of 10 calves that will not voluntarily drink even 2 quarts of colostrum.
• Follow best management practices when using an esophageal tube feeder for colostrum feeding.
Read More>>

Needed: Good Air (Part 2: Managing Housing) (Calving Ease October 2011)
Summary: Calves need good quality air if they are going to be healthy. Ventilation management is essential to achieve this goal. Managing ventilation means:
• setting air quality goals,
• comparing air quality to these goals, and
• managing the housing to achieve “good air” as economically as possible.
Part 1 last month was about setting quality goals and measuring air quality. Naturally ventilated barns require frequent adjustments of curtains and end doors to provide “good air.” Mechanically ventilated barns most often need a “tune-up” of the ventilation controls and equipment to correct “poor air” issues.
Read More>>

Needed: Good Air (Part 1: Goals and Measurement) (Calving Ease September 2011)

Summary:

Calves need good quality air if they are going to be healthy. Ventilation management is essential to achieve this goal. Part 1 this month is about: (1) setting airquality goals, and (2) comparing air quality to these goals. Part 2 next month will be aboutmanaging the housing to achieve “good air” as economically as possible. Read More>>

Colostrum: Quantity and Quality (Calving Ease August 2011)

Summary:

What quality and quantity of colostrum should we expect from our Holstein cows with 20th century genetics? Recently research (N=507 cows) reported that approximately 90% of the samples contained at least 50 mg/mL antibodies (IgG) and 43% contained at least 100 mg/mL IgG. [The threshold for “adequate” quality is usually 50mg/mL.] The amount of first-milking colostrum was roughly between 6.4 and 7.2 quarts. Bottom Line: Well-managed cows milked soon after calving, on the average, produce enough high quality colostrum to provide excellent immunity for our calves. Read More>>

Disinfecting to Improve Calf Health: Part 2 (Calving East July 2011)

Summary:

Part 1: Make disinfection part of your biosecurity program.

Clean first, then disinfect.

Part 2: Choose an efficient disinfectant

Get your moneys worth from the disinfectant
Read More>>

Disinfecting to Improve Calf Health: Part 1 (Calving Ease May 2011)

Summary:

Too busy to read this newsletter? Then get your basic review on disinfectants from:

http://www.dairyherd.com/dairy-herd/health/Disinfectants-101-121153289.html

. This short 60-second summary by Dr. Daniels hits the highlights on disinfecting. Make disinfection part of your biosecurity program Read More>>

Zero Tolerence for Antibiotic Residues (Calving Ease April 2011)

All calf care personnel should have a zero tolerance for antibiotic residues in calves. That is, any calf marketed from the farm should not contain residues from a treatment with antibiotics. Read More>>

Treating Too Many Calves for Scours (Calving Ease March 2011)

I was at a dairy meeting giving a talk about calf management. At lunch time a woman raising calves for their dairy farm asked me a question, “What can I do in a situation where I am treating too many calves for scours?” Read More>>

Bedding Calves for Cold Weather (Calving Ease February 2011)

Summary

Clean. Dry. Draft-free environment. Enough.

Ideal housing for preweaned calves is described as clean, dry and draft-free. Bedding contributes to all three of these essential characteristics. Read More>>

Cold Stressed Calves [Hypothermia] (Calving Ease January 2011)

Summary

1. Hypothermic conditions in calves vary from mild to severe.

2. Take temperatures to confirm suspected cases of hypothermia.

3. Treat hypothermic cases promptly to minimize subsequent health problems.
Read More>>

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