HEIFERMAX

Recent widespread heavy rains across much of southern Australia have turned many calving paddocks into a sea of mud.

Cows calving in wet, muddy paddocks are more likely to contract mastitis and metritis. Calves which are dropped in the mud at birth are almost certainly going to become ill and possibly to die.

Appropriate care for wet and dirty calves in the first day or so of life can help to minimise the effects of a poor start.

Steps to help prevent disease are:-

·         More frequent collection of calves from the paddock

·         Dip navels in the paddock before transport

·         Administer measured high quality colostrum (use a Colostrometer) as soon as possible (some farms take colostrum into the paddock, to ensure early consumption)

·         Colostrum should be given at 10% of bodyweight in a single feed

·         Dip navel again on entry into the calf barn

·         If a calf’s hair is wet, either put a calf coat on the calf or make a small pen from hay bales and snuggle the calf into the hay, so that it can warm up

·         Consider using a heat lamp for the first few hours of life

·         Feed 1^st milking colostrum as the second feed, to ensure adequate antibodies for absorption and because it has a very high level of nutrients

·         Continue to use transition milk (don’t dilute with milk from the hospital herd) for the first week of life, to ensure calves have plenty of nutrients to help fight infection

·         Monitor these calves regularly, as scouring is likely to be a major issue in the first few days of life

·         Navel or joint ill may appear in calves about a week old. Call the vet if you have a calf with this problem.

A little bit of extra TLC can minimise the effects that a wet and dirty start in life has on calves.

Farmers often think that losing a few calves a year is not a big problem. In fact, dead calves are actually the tip of the iceberg. Related illness and poor feed conversion efficiencies & growth rates in surviving calves cost far more money than the value of the dead calves.

Heifers are going to cost money to rear; particularly when money is short, it needs to be spent where it will give the greatest return. Low milk prices often result in farmers attempting to save money by reducing the costs of calf feeds. Calves which are not adequately fed are more likely to become ill & die. Experience of large scale calf rearers would say that, in general, for every dead calf there are about 5 sick ones.

The death of only 2% of heifers reared is often viewed as a good result. The following illustration estimates the unseen costs and lost productivity associated with 2 deaths from a group of 100 calves. Using “middle of the road” figures based on a Holstein herd, the “iceberg” shows the hidden costs of economising on feed and other rearing inputs.

Whether the figures are exactly accurate for every herd is not important; the point is that by cutting costs to save cents now, the enterprise will be losing dollars both now and in the longer term. Long term productivity will certainly be compromised, possibly at a time when milk prices have risen and dairies are looking for maximum productivity to make up ground lost to poor prices.

The above illustration calculates the costs associated with sick calves and associated lost productivity to be a startling $53,340. Read more »

Time spent recently delivering heifer management classes in Western Australia was very informative.

My interest in the W.A. dairy industry was kindled at the 2008 Australian Dairy Conference, held in Launceston. The chairman of Western Dairy made a presentation about the industry which painted the state and its industry in a rosy light.

Western Australians have always had a reputation for being very progressive, and many innovative agricultural ideas have come from W.A. It appears that their dairy industry is no exception; having declined in dairy numbers, the W.A. industry has made a concerted effort to attract new players into the industry and to consolidate its position in the global market place.

W.A. has 2.1% of Australian dairy farms but produces 3.7% of the milk; this is a testament to the attitude of these farmers and is a prediction of the future success of their industry.

The heifer management day, run on-farm near Busselton, was well organised and promoted. This ensured that it was incredibly well attended and the 5 hour presentation provoked a wide range of interesting questions. It was stimulating to present information to such a receptive audience and although some farmers had to leave mid-afternoon to milk, many stayed on to ask more searching questions.

I look forward to future interaction with this forward thinking sector of the Australian dairy industry.