| 93 nzdairy Calf-rearers need to be most vigilant Utilising professional support and a strict hygiene regime are pivotal to giving calves the best possible start in life, Vetora Te Awamutu veterinarian Briar Hayes says. Calving can be an extremely stressful time of year, and while there is generally a good awareness among today’s farmers and rearers of how to care for calves well, some things need careful attention, Briar says. “I definitely think that there’s far more of an awareness of the importance of calf rearing and colostrum quality, and I think there’s a better understanding of how disease processes work in calves as well. An area where calf rearers need to be constantly vigilant is in early identification of calves that are unwell and to quarantine them appropriately in a separate pen to prevent the transmission of pathogens, Briar says. “We often arrive to an outbreak of calf scours and scouring calves in three different pens and that kind of thing.” “Making sure equipment is disinfected, your calf rearer’s boots should be scrubbed in and out with disinfectant and that sick animals are dealt with last so that you don’t transmit things on your hands, on your clothing or on the calf feeders to other animals. It’s covid protocols but for cows, basically.” If there is an issue with calves or cows, it is always better to be proactive than reactive, Briar says. “It’s better to make a call with us and have a chat and we can tell whether we need to visit, and an animal needs to be seen before it becomes a problem, rather than waiting until multiple calves are effected.” Vetora is a farmer-owned and operated club that operates 12 clinics in Waikato and Bay of Plenty. Waikato Vetora includes a strategic partnership with EpiVets, a world-class veterinary epidemiological team based in Vetora’s Te Awamutu clinic. EpiVets carries out research and data analysis on New Zealand farms which helps the Vetora team keep up to date with the latest knowledge while developing new tools and insights for members. EpiVets co-director Emma Cuttance is a veterinary epidemiologist whose doctoral research includes a co-written paper, The Transfer of Passive Immunity in Calves Born at Pasture. Most mammals transfer antibodies across the placenta which means, when they are born, they have some immunity to fight disease. However, cows cannot do this, so everything the calf needs has to come from the colostrum within the first six to twelve hours of life, Emma says. Russell Fredric The Rotorua premises. DAIRY SERVICES » Vetora - Te Awamutu WORLD-FIRST CATTLE DRENCH PROGRAMME STAGE 1 Parasite coverage + Coccidiosis Ultimate parasite coverage STAGE 2 Rain-resistant coverage + Lice control STAGE 3 AVAILABLE AT VET CLINICS NATIONWIDE PROUDLY NZ OWNED TURBO® is a registered trademark of Alleva Animal Health Ltd. TURBO Pour-on (A011722), TURBO Injection (A011742), TURBO Initial (A011703)and TURBO Advance (A011714) are registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997. See www.foodsafety.govt.nz for registration conditions. alleva.co.nz “If [calves] don’t get enough antibodies, that’s when they are considered to have failure of passive transfer (FPT) which means they haven’t got enough antibodies to mount a good immune response if they need to.” Research has revealed about one third of calves in New Zealand have FPT and to help prevent it, high quality colostrum and strict hygiene regimes are essential, she says. “The key is that when the farmers give the colostrum that it needs to have lots of antibodies and that it is not contaminated with lots of bacteria. What we found out is that what farmers were feeding calves had very low in antibodies and was very highly contaminated.” To ensure calves are getting colostrum with plenty of antibodies, the first-milking colostrum is the only colostrum they should ever get in the first 24 hours of being in the calf shed. “[For] all other milkings give transition milk which is not suitable for newborn calves up to 24 hours old. Also, measuring the colostrum from cows using a brix refractometer is a great way of assessing the quality of the colostrum. It’s a five second job, it’s so quick and they can grade it and the best goes to the brand new calf.” Vetora is a farmer-owned and operated club that operates 12 clinics in Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
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