CA7 - Beef from Dairy Herd (Calves) 2

CA7 - Beef from Dairy Herd (Calves) 2

1. 5. Care of newborn calves

   • Clean calving area (clean, dry straw, contamination removed (faeces, birth fluid/mem.), periodically lime if deep bedded
   • Navel treatment w/ iodine dip or antibiotic spray
     • prevents joint ill, speticaemia, chronic ill health
   • Colostrum intake (see before)
     • Suckling 10 mins = 2L
       • So to get 6% in 6hr & 6% in 12 hr - so 50kg calf needs 3L in 6hr (i.e. 15 mins separated on 4-6 occasions/d)
     • Starts off w/ non-nutritive sucking (=sucking w/o receiving milk), interrupted by frequent teat switching & butting behaviour (for pre-stimulation of udder)
       • After 1 min -> nutritive sucking during which butting increases towards the end -> then non-nutritive sucking

2. 6. Identification & Traceability - Cattle Tracing System (CTS) - 4 elements

   • 1) Tagging
     • Each cattle has a unique no. recorded on 2 ear tags
     • Dairy: 1st tag within 36 hrs of birth. 2nd within 20d.
     • Other cattle: tagged within 20d of birth
     • All must be tagged before leaving holding of birth
   • 2) Farm records
     • Records of cattle births, imports, movements & deaths (must be kept by farmer)
     • Paper/computer based
     • Must be retained by farmer for 10 years (3 years for market, etc.)
   • 3) Passports
     • All cattle born in/ imported to GB since 1 July 1996 must have passport
     • Application made to BCMS within 7 days of tagging
   • 4) CTS
     • = computer-based system to register cattle in GB & their movements from birth to death

3. 7. Types of feeds for dairy calves

   • 0-3 days: Colostrum
     • 3d - weaning: Milk substitute/ Surplus colostrum (ferm./acid), Whole milk (waste milk) (antibiotics - resistance, residue/bact - Johnes?)
       • 2-12 wks: Conc, straw, hay, silage (min. daily fibrous food > 2w.o. - 100g @ 2 w.o. -> 250g @ 20 w.o.)
   • Colostrum stored by fermentation (pH 5-5.6)
     • :( Less palatable, excessive acidity, nutrient losses
     • Chemical additives used to control fermentation (e.g. propionic acid) -> retards bact. growth, controls odour & allows ambient storage
     • Can result in similar weight gain in calves w/ milk/ milk replacers
     • Fermentation process see lecture notes

4. 8. Types of Milk Substitutes

   • Milk substitutes are generally made up from bags of skim milk powder
     • Suit bucket/machine systems
   • Whole milk has 87% water; Skim milk 91%
   • Manufacture of milk powder
     • Water removed by boiling milk by evaporation
       • then sprayed into hot air to remove further moisture -> powder formed
   • Protein in reconstituted milk forms a clot in calf's stomach
     • :) Slows down release -> Lower risk of digestive upsets & incidence of scour
     • Clot formed by rennet (natural complex of proteolytic enzymes produced in lining of stomach)
       • Rennet splits proteins into solid (insoluble) curd proteins & liquid (soluble) whey proteins
   • Zero milk replacers
     • Contain whey & whey protein based conc. + soybean/veg proteins
       • Give similar performance levels. Can be more cost-effective.
       • Don't form clot so risk of overloading SI if fed infrequently
   • Acidified milk replacers
     • for storing milk for longer w/o going off
     • can further decrease scour incidence