Calves

Is feeding normal dairy nuts to dairy cows a week before calving any good as opposed to feeding the rolled oats ?..
 
podge 23 said:
Is feeding normal dairy nuts to dairy cows a week before calving any good as opposed to feeding the rolled oats ?..
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Probably better off feeding from 2 weeks out from calving. Here we feed 0.5kg of soya for protein and 1kg maize meal for energy and to get the bugs in their rumen used to the concentrates before they hit the parlour after calving.
I'm sure feeding a kg or 2 of dairy nuts will be fine it'll help get the rumen used to nuts again as I was saying. Personally would go with oats to help with calving but that may not be an option for you if you're tight for storage space like I am here. I only have room for the soya and maize meal and I'm already feeding that to weanlings so that's why I work both of those.
 
DC95 do you have any problems with scour then in the spring and do you vaccinate for rotor virus ? Crystal do ye find that feeding them the beef nuts before calving has sorted any issues ?
 
podge 23 said:
DC95 do you have any problems with scour then in the spring and do you vaccinate for rotor virus ? Crystal do ye find that feeding them the beef nuts before calving has sorted any issues ?
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Never have any problems with scour and have never had to vaccinate for rotavirus. I find the soya great for giving cows good colostrum. All colostrum here is tested and fed to every calf as soon as possible after being born and any colostrum that isn't up to scratch isn't used.
 
DC95 said:
Never have any problems with scour and have never had to vaccinate for rotavirus. I find the soya great for giving cows good colostrum. All colostrum here is tested and fed to every calf as soon as possible after being born and any colostrum that isn't up to scratch isn't used.
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Ya no issues with cows, after the first feed calves are fed using a milk shake mixed with the milk to prevent scour.
 
That is amazing DC95 no scour not( even 1 case?)and not having to vaccinate for rotavirus .
We get hell from calves here with scour if it’s not rotavirus it’s crypto and if not scour phenoumnia .
The only thing we can do different here is feed beef nuts in the milking parlour as we don’t have enough head space to feed along the head rail,l.
Will feeding beef nuts 2 weeks before calving help I wonder ?..
 
podge 23 said:
That is amazing DC95 no scour not( even 1 case?)and not having to vaccinate for rotavirus .
We get hell from calves here with scour if it’s not rotavirus it’s crypto and if not scour phenoumnia .
The only thing we can do different here is feed beef nuts in the milking parlour as we don’t have enough head space to feed along the head rail,l.
Will feeding beef nuts 2 weeks before calving help I wonder ?..
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If I was you I'd definitely think about using soya it does wonders for cows colostrum. I just buy a big 750 kg bag in the co op and feed .5 kg/ head to the cows 2 weeks before they calf. I mix the soya with a shake of Cal mag and throw it into the diet feeder with the silage. You don't need a diet feeder to do it though you can mix it up in a bucket and shake it along the silage it's the same thing and works out cheaper than vaccinating. Hygiene is important too though we clean out the calving pens every 2 weeks and give them a good dusting with lime.
 
Can I feed the soya on its own,like in a through ?
Because something has to change here with these calves,we vaccinate them for rotavirus and the vet is telling me to go doing them with halocure but I am not convinced that will work either as I have used it before and stil got crypto .
 
Hygiene is the main prevention of crypto, disinfection of calf sheds and calving pens is key, serious power washing and disinfecting before and maybe sometime during calving. Plenty of straw and making 100% sure the calves get quality colostrum, possibly the best way of doing this is take the calf form the cow and bottle or tube the calf and do not let calf drink cows as you have no really way of knowing how much they actually drank.
this is what I was told by 2 people when I enquired before. That halcur is rough stuff. The rotavirus vaccine has zero effect on crypto.
 
Podge
podge 23 said:
Can I feed the soya on its own,like in a through ?
Because something has to change here with these calves,we vaccinate them for rotavirus and the vet is telling me to go doing them with halocure but I am not convinced that will work either as I have used it before and stil got crypto .
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Podge, what's your procedure when a calf is born ?
Do you milk the cow
Or let the calf suck him/herself ?
How soon after birth does the calf get beestings.
And how much. ?
Is the procedure different if a calf is born at night ?
 
podge 23 said:
Can I feed the soya on its own,like in a through ?
Because something has to change here with these calves,we vaccinate them for rotavirus and the vet is telling me to go doing them with halocure but I am not convinced that will work either as I have used it before and stil got crypto .
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Once you have it there is nothing really that works 100%, halocure is the most effective drug against it, the best disinfectant is sunlight, if you can between calves put your calf pens outside and wash them and allow them to dry in direct sunlight for a few days, after that lime everything, it's cheap and easy to apply.
When the cow calves take the calf from her as soon as possible, if you can place it somewhere where the cow can lick it but the calf can't get at the cow.
When you milk the cow for colostrum, clean the udder don't wash it, and strain the colostrum before storing or feeding it to limit dirt.
Doing these things will help but it's no 100% guarantee.
 
jcb411abuser said:
Once you have it there is nothing really that works 100%, halocure is the most effective drug against it, the best disinfectant is sunlight, if you can between calves put your calf pens outside and wash them and allow them to dry in direct sunlight for a few days, after that lime everything, it's cheap and easy to apply.
When the cow calves take the calf from her as soon as possible, if you can place it somewhere where the cow can lick it but the calf can't get at the cow.
When you milk the cow for colostrum, clean the udder don't wash it, and strain the colostrum before storing or feeding it to limit dirt.
Doing these things will help but it's no 100% guarantee.
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We've taken to building pens from mdf or plywood sheets that fit 2 calves each, then after the calves are reared everything gets burned to prevent any cross contamination to next season.
 
podge 23 said:
Can I feed the soya on its own,like in a through ?
Because something has to change here with these calves,we vaccinate them for rotavirus and the vet is telling me to go doing them with halocure but I am not convinced that will work either as I have used it before and stil got crypto .
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Yea you can feed it in a trough or dust it along the silage. All the vaccine does is give the cow better colostrum and it's not going to work unless the calf gets at least 3 litres of it within 2 hours of birth. Strongly thought about vaccinating a couple of years ago but didn't bother in the end. I don't know if it's just me but it seems to be getting harder to rear calves there seems to be more viruses and disease's every year how calf dealers manage with calves from different herds in one shed I'll never know. I do be afraid letting anyone that has contact with other calves near my calf shed for fear of some sort of disease getting in
 
Mixed fleet the procedure when a calf is born is to let the cow lick the calf maybe for half an hour then take calf away and milk cow and feed calf,if calf isn’t full from sucking but yes I know it’s very hard to know if or how much a calf has sucked .
Yes if cow calf’s at night the calf could be left with the cow for 2 hours depending on the time they calf .
Do any of ye just feed silage and pre Calver minerals and get no scour ?

But I have done all this disfencint from top to bottom and used halocure over the years and no good,so if that’s not working I will have to try something else .
 
I had cryto one year and halocur was the only thing that kept calves alive .I changed to all wilted round bale silage and dust of coarse ration to dry cows before calving and never again had any issue with scour .I would use about 10 packs of lectade for 50 claves in the spring and no pre calver mineral either .I have not powerwashed a calf house in 10 years but I would roughly whitewash them after the annual clean out I think the dry wilted silage is the trick .There has to be some reason for the big move from pit to round bales
 
podge 23 said:
Mixed fleet the procedure when a calf is born is to let the cow lick the calf maybe for half an hour then take calf away and milk cow and feed calf,if calf isn’t full from sucking but yes I know it’s very hard to know if or how much a calf has sucked .
Yes if cow calf’s at night the calf could be left with the cow for 2 hours depending on the time they calf .
Do any of ye just feed silage and pre Calver minerals and get no scour ?

But I have done all this disfencint from top to bottom and used halocure over the years and no good,so if that’s not working I will have to try something else .
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I think that a good start too a calf is everything.
Friesan calves sucking cows with big udders is too hit and miss and I don't have time to stand watching and wondering whether a calf is getting a suck or not.
I milk the cow shortly after calving and feed the calf with a teat bottle. I find that the quicker you get it to them, the better the suck.
Probably within an hour of being born and usually before the stand up.
Every calf is different but they will usually drink between 2 and 4 litres. Cow and calf left in a pen for a few hours, if the calf wants to suck more, happy days.
Beestings from cows calved during the day kept and fed to calves born during the night.
I very seldom use a stomach tube and don't freeze or test beestings.
Calves go to individual pens for about 2 days and then on to group pens 10s
Calf accommodation is poor.
Lots of Pre calver, scour vaccine to the cows .
No halocur , very little scour, maybe 1 in 20/30
 
i do the complete opposite to what lads are saying here, cow calves and calf is given 3 ltrs of colostrum from the mother with a bottle and teat while she is licking the calf, cow and calf left together for first day and after that the cow is let into her calf every night for 5 to 7 nights before weaning, haven,t had a case of scour for years and don,t vaccinate . smaller numbers than most lads and a more spread out calving pattern but i think the first week is vital in a calfs life and a bit of time spent then is better than time and money lost for the rest of the animals life
 
humungus said:
i do the complete opposite to what lads are saying here, cow calves and calf is given 3 ltrs of colostrum from the mother with a bottle and teat while she is licking the calf, cow and calf left together for first day and after that the cow is let into her calf every night for 5 to 7 nights before weaning, haven,t had a case of scour for years and don,t vaccinate . smaller numbers than most lads and a more spread out calving pattern but i think the first week is vital in a calfs life and a bit of time spent then is better than time and money lost for the rest of the animals life
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It's a labour intensive pursuit alright. Probably not feasible for very big numbers but a great way of doing it when you can manage it
 
jay gatsby said:
It's a labour intensive pursuit alright. Probably not feasible for very big numbers but a great way of doing it when you can manage it
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without doubt there,s more work for the first week but treating sick calves and having isolation pens are time consuming as well not to mention expensive. the biggest advantage the big herds would have is a drafting system where they could have all the cows drafted out after milking and let them into the calves then
 
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