Calves

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

Somewhat similar here . Calf is left with the cow for 12 to 24 hours , depending on whether it calves day or night . Never vaccinate . Only IBR and lepto . Wouldnt be big into powerwashing , but pull out bedding between most cows , or every couple if big pressure on . Usually spread lime around then , before bedding fresh . I use plenty of straw . Calf pens get a few inches of wood chip, then straw . Wood chip lets weep down out of the straw . Use a shake of bread soda in whole milk , which i think helps . Try and get them eating a shake of meal ASAP .
 
And if we are to follow the johnes programme ran by Ahi to the full the calves nearly arent allowed to be licked by the cow til taken away.
Our vet has very few dairy clients but 90 % of us in the program since the start.the program is death again slurry contractors spreading disease on agitators , tankers and the pipes unless there powerwashed and disinfected which is highly unlikely going between farms.even no slurry on grazing or silage ground for their 1st summer and winter silage.
 
Fr heifer calves come off the calf here straight away, rest stay on the cow. I'm in the johnes scheme too. Had really bad problems with scour etc years ago and et just said to leave them on the cow, they get a much better start.
 
Man I milk for in the mornings does similar. Let's fresh and lame cows stay with calves in a straw pen for about a week or 10 days depending on how many cows are calving at once.
There could be something in it that fresh cows transition milk would be higher in nutrients and IGs for a few days after calving and that would help boost the calfs own immunity.
I say though if you are having issues its probably best to try to limit sources of dirt and lower variability in the feed and care each calf gets.
But if its working don't try fixing it.
 
There could be something in it that fresh cows transition milk would be higher in nutrients and IGs for a few days after calving and that would help boost the calfs own immunity.
I believe calves don't absorb the IGs after 12 hours that's why it's important to get it in them early.
 
I feed them good silage 70+ dmd a good pre Calver and supplement iodine tablets in the water and vaccinate them for rotavirus surely this is enough,well maybe I might give them a beef nut a week before calving to see does it help.
Like after all that and having to come on again and do each calf with halocure is sickening not to mention the price of it .
 
I feed them good silage 70+ dmd a good pre Calver and supplement iodine tablets in the water and vaccinate them for rotavirus surely this is enough,well maybe I might give them a beef nut a week before calving to see does it help.
Like after all that and having to come on again and do each calf with halocure is sickening not to mention the price of it .
You can't do much more, but it's all in vain if your not getting the beestings into the calf and get it into him quickly.
 
I feed them good silage 70+ dmd a good pre Calver and supplement iodine tablets in the water and vaccinate them for rotavirus surely this is enough,well maybe I might give them a beef nut a week before calving to see does it help.
Like after all that and having to come on again and do each calf with halocure is sickening not to mention the price of it .
Just out of curiosity are you dusting the pre Calver mineral on top of your silage and if so do all cows have enough space to get the minerals or are you mixing it through a diet feeder?
 
Ya dusting the minerals on top of the silage but no all cows don’t have enough space, but I do the minerals twice a day to try and get all cows covered .
 
Boluses so
I'd agree with @Bencroy I started bolusing cows last year for the first time and I definitely noticed a difference in the calves. I threw up a few mineral blocks too and you could see the calves were nearly yellow when they were born and they were up and around within an hour and grand and healthy looking. Last year's calving season was the easiest we ever had and I'd definitely say the bolusing helped a lot with that. Don't have great faith in powdered minerals anymore.
 
What do you mean calves were yellow ?
Any 1 ever used apple cider vinegar in whole milk And if so is it any good for preventing scour in calves ?..
 
I feed them good silage 70+ dmd a good pre Calver and supplement iodine tablets in the water and vaccinate them for rotavirus surely this is enough,well maybe I might give them a beef nut a week before calving to see does it help.
Like after all that and having to come on again and do each calf with halocure is sickening not to mention the price of it .
Your overthinking it at this stage, going by the above your doing more then enough.
Don’t over complicate things by the sounds of things your issues are caused by insufficient calve housing or it’s a management issue when things get really busy.
Everyone’s first 4 weeks of calves are a piece of cake it’s from mid March on that there start to go wrong. A good calf house with good ventilation, if you get a smell of ammonia its a bad sign. Fatigue after a busy month of calving takes a toll too and you’d miss things you’d have spotted a few weeks before.
 
Hi i have a local man that buys my beef calves. My cows are frx and jex. Sire will mostly be saler with some hereford. What will i ask him for bulls and heifers.
Relationship would be pure business.
Thanks
 
No shortage of calf housing here and most of it is a new shed so no problems with air or smells in it .
Ya maybe that’s it when things get busy .
 
So here we are again 26 cows calved all cows done for rotavirus,didn’t do the first 15 calves with halocure but have been done from there on and there is a couple of calves already showing blood and won’t drink until they are injected with an anti inflammatory and phenoumonia injection it’s the start of trouble now again .
Most calves have been taken from the cows almost straight away and feed 3 liters of bestings,and cows have gotten soya before calving .
Calves are impossible to rear here .
 
Ah feck it podge, its a sickner for it be starting of so soon in the season.you should get the vet to take blood and dung samples of a few of the calves that are showing signs and try and get to the bottom of it.
Few bloods of the cows that have calves showing symptoms would be no harm and try and get to the bottom of it cause it will drive anyone mad
 
So here we are again 26 cows calved all cows done for rotavirus,didn’t do the first 15 calves with halocure but have been done from there on and there is a couple of calves already showing blood and won’t drink until they are injected with an anti inflammatory and phenoumonia injection it’s the start of trouble now again .
Most calves have been taken from the cows almost straight away and feed 3 liters of bestings,and cows have gotten soya before calving .
Calves are impossible to rear here .
What precalving minerals are you using?
 
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
When I had the problem of crypto ,my pre calving diet was precision cut silage which was highly fertilised and even though cows got minerals ,does high npk levels in silage effect the uptake of minerals .imo the problem is coming from the cow ,would it be worth changing the precalving silage diet to round bales .It should be easy to buy quality wilted silage at the right price this year and switch to this .This would cost you very little as it would only mean you would have spare silage left over your self .Loosing calves is very demoralising and it looks the cows are lacking something
 
Dosent matter what silage they eat.its a bacterial infection combined with probaly low immunity.unless silage minerals and bloods are tested nobody will ever know what mineral one is low in
 
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