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Youngstock health: Effective disease prevention today ensuring tomorrow's profitable herd

02 March 2020
51 mins read
Figure 1. Three buckets of freshly harvested colostrum.
Figure 1. Three buckets of freshly harvested colostrum.

Abstract

Foreword

Proactive youngstock health management is critical not only to optimise animal welfare and production efficiency and profitability, but also to minimising the environmental impact of livestock production. The morbidity and mortality rates tolerated by some producers, and at times even accepted by their vets, are often far too high. Whether it is the loss of dairy bull calves, who may have little monetary value but nevertheless contribute to both the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of a dairy if not utilised for food production, dairy heifers with the additional loss of the best genetics in the herd or a beef suckler calf representing the only product of the cow that year, we need to do all we can to prevent death and disease. Even where calves do not die, managing sick animals is costly in treatment and labour and antibiotic use in these animals to treat, and on some farms still to prevent disease, is very likely to contribute to antimicrobial resistance. The only logical conclusion that one can come to is that if cattle units are to remain viable and produce sustainable milk and meat, we need to redouble efforts to prevent disease.

Sometimes we talk of new science, while at other times we find ourselves repeating ‘the same old message’. The need for adequate colostrum management is one such case, the messages may not be new but far too many calves still fail to receive enough maternally derived antibody, making the article in this supplement on colostrum vital reading. Don't assume you, or more importantly your clients, know everything there is to know about colostrum.

After ensuring calves have received initial protection via maternal derived antibody from colostrum then we need to ensure they are protected from infections as they grow, particularly respiratory diseases. Despite having had good vaccines for over 20 years, their uptake in the national herd I believe is still suboptimal, far too many calves still receive antimicrobials, and poor growth rates are common due to chronic lung damage. Ellie Button explains well in her article ‘Calf disease: an immunological perspective’ the calf's innate and acquired immunity and describes how an understanding of the calf's developing immunity can be used to enhance disease prevention.

Finally, Kat Hart and colleagues discuss communication and promoting behaviour change in ‘How to engage farmers in youngstock care: a clinical forum’, something that in the past we have often forgotten. It's not good enough for vets to understand the science and turn a blind eye to poor on farm practices, or to simply tell clients what to do and walk away expecting them to do as they have been told! We often need to motivate clients towards real lasting change, and to do that we all need to communicate better. Together the three articles in this supplement are a powerful combination, the challenge is to read them and then effect valuable changes on your clients’ farms.

The feeding of an adequate volume of good quality, clean colostrum as soon as possible after birth is arguably the most significant effect a farmer can have on the life of a cow. Providing simple straightforward colostrum protocols of quality, quantity, quickly and squeaky clean should enable this focus. They are inexpensive, do not take significant amounts of time and are very effective at reducing morbidity and mortality. The ability to then develop programmes to routinely monitor colostrum management and measure success becomes hugely rewarding to all involved.

Good colostrum management is the cornerstone of successful calf-rearing (Potter, 2011) (Figure 1). Calves receiving adequate colostrum have reduced risk for pre-weaning morbidity and mortality, with additional long-term benefits:

Colostrum contains immunoglobulins that protect the calf from the wide range of diseases that its mother has been exposed to during her recent life. It is highly nutritious — it contains approximately five times the normal proteins, and twice the fat of normal milk and a wide selection of minerals and vitamins which are greatly raised to over 10 times that found in normal milk (Godden, 2008). It is generally considered to be important for getting the calf warmed up and moving around soon after birth (Blowey, 1999), and for maintenance and growth. It contains the first water a calf receives. The fat content of colostrum, as well as being an energy source, acts as a laxative and assists in the passage of meconium (Blowey, 1999).

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