2011 Calf-ETERIA StudyBenchmarking Ontario dairy calf raising practices & Opportunities

for Improvement

Central Ontario Agriculture Conference 2012Georgian College, Barrie

Presentation Outline

What is Calf-ETERIA? About the project

Calf and Heifer Management Survey Results Opportunities for improvement

Next Steps

Calf-ETERIA

Using CALF health and productivity as a template for an Evaluation of Translation and Extension of Research Information for Agriculture

What is Calf-ETERIA ? A University of Guelph-OMAFRA Knowledge Translation and

Transfer funded project.

Team Members:

Ken Leslie – Project Coordinator

Tom Wright – Project Co-Coordinator

Vivianne Bielmann – Project Manager Trevor DeVries Mario Mongeon Brian Lang Bill Grexton

Harold House Betty Summerhayes Ian Rumbles

Project Objectives Benchmark current dairy calf and heifer management practices

Develop approaches to undertaking KTT initiatives to improve awareness and encourage adoption of, known optimal management techniques to increase economic performance and health

Evaluate and quantify both the animal health and economic performance subsequent to their initial benchmark

Disseminate case-study based benefits of optimal management systems to demonstrate both financial and animal health improvements to all Ontario dairy producers through producer meetings and web-based media

3 KTT Approaches

Calf and Heifer management clubs Including interaction with veterinarians

Web-based KTT for BMP’s for calves & heifers

Control Group

Benefits Ontario dairy producers from two key perspectives:

Economically – through reduced costs attributed to death losses, animal morbidity and associated treatment costs and reduction in compromised lifetime milk production losses, as a result of health problems encountered as a calf

Improved welfare of dairy calves and heifers - through increased survival rates and improved health-status

Expected Benefits and Impacts

Expected Benefits and Impacts

IMPACTS To change and improve specific aspects about

the management of calves and heifers on Ontario dairy farms

Ontario Calf and Heifer Management Survey

3,145 surveys were mailed out to dairy producers on DHI The survey was also available online

921 surveys were completed and returned by mail

43 surveys were completed online

30% response

Status of Survey

Distribution of Herd Size

Herd Size Number of Farms0 – 50 cows 44551 – 100 cows 319101 – 150 cows 89151 – 200 cows 27201 – 250 cows 19251 – 350 cows 14400+ cows 7

Calf Care

Who FrequencyOwner 352Spouse 86Owner/Spouse 66Family Member 90Employee 24Multiple Individuals (combination of 2 or more of the above)

330

**N=948****51.6% male, 21.5% female, 26.9% both**

Time Spent on Calf Care

Time Spent Percentage

Less than or equal to 1 hour/day 53.5%

1 – 2 hours/day 42.4%

2 – 3 hours/day 0.8%

More than 3 hours/day 3.3%

**N=849**

Cost of Labour

Employee wages, for calf care, ranged from $5 /hour up to $25 /hour, depending on the farm

Where are Calves normally Born?

Location PercentageIndividual Calving Pen 31%Group Maternity Pen 11.6%Dry Cow Pen 7.8%Tie Stall/Free Stall 7.9%Pasture (when applicable) 29.6%Combination of 2 or more of the above 40.2%

Video Surveillance Use

75 / 930 producers indicated that video surveillance is currently used to monitor cows in the calving area

Herd sizes of these 75 ranged from 28 cows up to 550 cows

Separation of Calf from Dam

Time from calving to separation

Morning(N=929)

Afternoon(N=924)

Evening(N=925)

Night(N=920)

0-2 hrs after calving 46% 35% 40% 11%

2-6 hrs after calving 25% 37% 19% 35%

6-12 hrs after calving 16% 13% 24% 36%

Greater than 12 hrs after calving

13% 15% 17% 18%

Separation Technique

Total Separation to Calf Housing 758 (81%)

Partial Separation using a tub or gate 98 (10%)

Other + Partial or Total separation 17 (2%)

Other 67 (7%) Methods Used:

Moved to box stall/calf pens Tied to corner of calving pen Cow is removed from pen Tied up alongside cows Calf stays with cow for hours/until licked dry/up to 3 days

Calving Assistance

On average, how often was assistance required during a calving, in the past year? Never 0.4%

Less than 10% 27%

10 – 20% 41%

More than 20% of calvings 23.6%

Exact percentage 7.4% Range: 1% - 98%

Disinfecting Navels

Is it routine practice to disinfect the navel of each newborn calf?

YES 38%

NO 62%

http://www.progressivedairy.com/features/2007/0107/0107

Disinfecting Navels

Why do it? Prevent infections – stop pathogens from going up

the cord into the calf’s body Navel infections can lead to other health problems Some studies show decreased growth associated

with navel infections

An easy, cost-effective method to help prevent disease

Products administered shortly after Birth

TreatmentNone 490 (51.5%)Vitamin E/Selenium 218 (23%)Vitamins A, D and E 97 (10%)Oral Antibody or vaccine 277 (29%)Iron 26 (3%)Intranasal Viral Vaccine 3 (0.3%)More than one of the above 152 (16%)

**N=950N.B. – Percentages do not add up to 100%

Selenium

1980’s and 1990’s supplementing newborn calves with selenium and vitamin E injections was common practice

Still widely done in beef cow-calf operations,

Recent research from the University of Guelph showed calves supplemented with selenium and vitamin E injections were less likely to develop diarrhea from viral pathogens (i.e. rotavirus)

Colostrum Feeding

What percentage of calves nurse the dam? 0% 429 1-10% 189 11-30% 83 31-50% 49 60-90% 30 91-100% 18

Colostrum Feeding

Method 0% 1-10% 11-30% 31-50% 51-90% 91-100%

Bottle 101 31 34 77 350 336

Bucket 639 13 10 12 26 33

Tube 293 315 103 38 30 64

Amount of Colostrum Fed

2 L or L

ess 2 L 3 L 4 L

More than 4 L

Other0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

First FeedingWithin First 12 Hours

Num

ber o

f Res

pons

es

Differences in Volume of Colostrum Fed

Weight 132

Calf’s Health Status 215

Sex of Calf 19

Let calf drink ‘at will’ 7

Combination of 2 or more of the above 115

Colostrum Quality

How many producers are checking colostrum quality? 281/931 30%

How are they checking it? Colour and/or consistency 72% (265/370) Volume 19% (70/370) Colostrometer 6% (23/370) Refractometer 0.2% (1/370) Laboratory 3% (11/370)

Colostrum Quality

Importance of colostrum qualityQuality decreases quickly after calving.

Collection should occur within 1 to 2 hours, max of 6 hrs.

The relationship between IgG concentrations and volume of colostrum is unpredictable

Milk Feeding

Whole Milk

Milk Replacer

Waste Milk

Acidified Whole Milk

Acidified Milk Replacer

Combination of two or more0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Num

ber o

f Res

pons

es

Milk Feeding

How are calves being fed? Bucket 37% (332/890) Milk Bar 3% (22/890) Nurse Bottle 29% (262/890) Robot Milk Feeder 3% (27/890) Other Free-Access feeding system 1% (12/890) Combination of 2 or more 26% (235/890)

Milk Feeding

How much is being fed daily in Week 1?

0-3 L 4 L 5 L 6 L 7-9 L 10L or more0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Num

ber

of R

espo

nses

Milk Feeding How much is being fed daily in Week 4?

0-3L 4 L 5 L 6 L 7-9 L 10 L or more0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Num

ber

of R

espo

nses

Feeding programs based on feeding 500 g of milk (4L) or milk replacer DM day puts the calf at serious risk for limited or no growth during the first 2 - 3 weeks of life unless environmental conditions of temperature and moisture are optimal

Traditional milk feeding levels

(Courtesy of Trevor DeVries)

Increased milk feeding levels for accelerated growth

Recommendation now is to feed calves more milk – increase rate of frame growth (not fattening per se) Feed whole milk ad libitum (free access) or at other

high levels (8-10+ L/day) Feed more milk replacer

1 to 1.5 kg of powder/day26-28% CP, 15-20% fat

Achieve gains of 1 to 1.5 kg/d of growth pre-weaning

(Courtesy of Trevor DeVries)

0

2

4

6

8

10

0 2 4Calf age (weeks)

Milk

consu

med (

kg/d

)

Calves will drink more milk when they are provided the opportunity

Ad libitum

Conventional

Jasper & Weary, 2002; J. Dairy Sci. 85: 3054-3058.

Free Access Feeding of Milk to Calves

(Courtesy of Trevor DeVries)

Higher growth rates during the milk-feeding phase have long-term benefits!

Great weight at calving increased weight gain during the first 2 mo of life results

in significantly greater body weight at 24 mo of age (Moallem et al. 2010. J. Dairy Sci. 93:2639-2650)

Survivability Heifers that reached second lactation grew more

between 12 and 65 d of age than those that did not (Bach. 2011. J. Dairy Sci. 94:1052-1057)

(Courtesy of Trevor DeVries)

Water

At what age is fresh water offered to calves? 0 – 5 days 23% (215/920) 5 – 10 days 29% (268/920) More than 10 days 30% (280/920) Not until after weaning 17% (157/920)

Importance of Water

Most essential nutrient, represents 70% of body weight

Water is lost from respiration and manure

Water intake is positively correlated with dry matter intake

(Courtesy of Tom Wright)

Water Recommendations

Should be offered from 3 days of age Helps to promote starter intake

Preferably free choice access

Needs to be clean

Calves prefer to drink warm water (though no evidence this improves gain etc., but they will drink more water if it’s warm)

(Courtesy of Tom Wright)

Grain

At what age is grain/starter introduced to calves? 0 – 5 days 32% (299/940) 5 – 10 days 46% (430/940) 11 – 20 days 17% (162/940) More than 20 days of age 5% (49/940)

Do calves have free-choice access to grain/starter? 87% YES

Introduction of Hay

When are calves normally introduced to hay? Less than 2 weeks of age 155 2 – 4 weeks of age 195 4 – 6 weeks of age 190 After weaning 20

Recording Information

What information is recorded on individual calves? Nothing 60 ID info 911 Calving ease info 796 Stillbirth 806 Routine procedures 262 Calf disease events 371 Calf health treatments 463 Growth 62 Death after 24 hours 602 Weaning date 105

Standard Operating Procedures

Are SOP’s used for routine calf management procedures? Yes, all procedures 18% (167/912) Yes, only disease and treatment info 13% (123/912) No 68% (622/912)

Health Problems – Pre-weaning

438 producers ranked scours as a common (3 or 4 on a 1-4 point scale)

Respiratory disease was ranked as common by 216 producers

Navel ill, lameness and droopy ears are considered less common during this period

Weaning

How are calves weaned off milk? Abruptly stop feeding 191 Decrease volume 249 Dilution of milk 311 Intermittent feeding 98 Combination of methods 93

How is the time of weaning decided? Calf age 812 Calf weight 293 Starter/grain intake 454*often this is a combination*

Weaning Age

5 weeks or less 2.4% (21/863)

6 weeks 12% (101/863)

7 weeks 9% (77/863)

8 weeks 36% (311/863)

9 weeks 10% (86/863)

10 weeks or more 31% (267/863)

Health Problems – Post-weaning

175 producers considered respiratory disease to be a common or very common health problem in post-weaned calves

Vaccination

Are calves vaccinated for respiratory disease? 47 % are vaccinating calves against respiratory

disease

56-98 98-180 180-270 270-3810.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1.1 BRD+

BRD-

Effect of BRD on ADGAv

erag

e D

aily

Gai

n (k

g/da

y)

Time Period of Measurement (days)

**

*

(Courtesy of Amy Stanton)

Welfare Costs of BRD

Clinical disease Dyspnea (shortness of breath) Coughing Anorexia Depression

Chronic Cases Possible pulmonary abscesses or fibrous pleuritis Prolonged clinical signs Death

BRD Impact on Age at First Calving

Post-movement BRD

YES: 27% (42/157) calved after 25 months

NO: 17% (159/929) calved after 25 months

The odds of a heifer calving prior to 25 months of age was 40% lower for calves treated for BRD compared to calves without BRD

(Courtesy of Amy Stanton)

Rations for Heifers

What type of ration are heifers fed? Components 52% (455/868) Top-dressed 22% (190/868) TMR 26% (223/868)

Age at First Breeding

≤ 12 months

13 months

14 months

15 months

16 months or more

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Num

ber o

f Pro

duce

rs

Comparison of Age at First Calving and Productive Life

32.1

32.833.1

33.7 33.633.3 33.1 33.0

32.6 32.632.0 32.2

31.0

30.1 29.9

25

27

29

31

33

35

37

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Age at First Calving (months)

Tim

e S

pe

nt

in H

erd

(m

o)

Heifers calving at 25-26 months have the longest herd life

CanWest DHI 2008-09

Productive life in a dairy herd is similar across all ages with a range of less than 4 months

(Courtesy of Brian Lang and Bill Grexton)

Age at First Calving and Lifetime Milk Production

20,000

22,000

24,000

26,000

28,000

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36Age at First Calving

Lifeti

me p

rod

uct

ion

kg

Highest lifetime

production is from heifers calving at 23 to 25 months

of age

CanWest DHI 2008-09(Courtesy of Brian Lang and Bill Grexton)

Cost of Raising a Heifer

How much does it cost?

$1000 5% (32/632)

$1000 to $1500 32% (204/632)

$1500 to $2000 58% (366/632)

$2500 to $3000 4% (25/632)

$3000 + 1% (5/632)

Cost of Raising a Heifer

$2,000 - $2,500 average cost to raise a replacement heifer

Remember overhead costs

Unpaid labour

Plus value of calf

(Courtesy of Brian Lang and Bill Grexton)

Take Home Messages

Navel dipping An easy, cost-effective method for preventing infections

Colostrum – quality Measuring colostrum quality is easy

Milk feeding Calves will drink more Feeding higher volumes of milk will result in higher gains

in the pre-weaning period and in later life and may also improve survivability

Take Home Messages

Water intake An important nutrient Should be offered by 3 days of age Promotes starter intake

Disease Respiratory disease has long term impacts on the

production and survivability

Age at first breeding Can be improved Heifers calving at 23-25 months have the highest lifetime

production

Next Steps of the Project

January to March implement the KTT methods (management clubs and web-based modules)

Continue to collect data

Thank You