For successful calf rearing you must identify your targets and prepare a plan.
You should plan for:
- setting up a recording system
- adequate housing
- good management
- proper feeding (including colostrum feeding)
- formulating a health check list
- preparing a budget.
Record Keeping
Setting up a simple record keeping system is essential.
Calves must be correctly identified with devices such as eartags.
Record the following:
- date of birth
- twin/calving difficulty
- cases of illness
- date and type of treatment
- weight at birth and l2 weeks
- if purchased, where and when
- mortalities and cause (if known)
- date of vaccination
- date of deworming.
Records will allow you to compare calf rearing with industry targets. Table 2.1 might help you to assess your costs.
The risks of selling calves with detectable residues are too high not to keep records in an easy and accessible manner.
Housing
To encourage rumen development and optimum growth rates, calves should have restricted access to pasture. This means calves should be housed for the first 10– 12 weeks of life.
Where possible, keep calves in separate pens for the first week. This permits easy monitoring and early detection and treatment of any health problems. Early detection is critical for quick recovery and preventing deaths.
After an initial period of 1–2 weeks, calves can be put into batches of up to eight in each pen. If calves are permanently housed inside they will need to be kept in smaller batches than if they are housed overnight with sheltered outside runs; calves need a pen area of 1.5 m2 each.
Permanent Shedding
Keep the shed dry and draught-free at calf level
Wet windy conditions create stress, which can result in scours and possibly pneumonia. Keep sheds clean, dry and draught-free to above the height of the calf. At the same time make sure there is good ventilation; if you can smell ammonia, they can get pneumonia.
Deep litter bedding or wooden grating is ideal as flooring. If sawdust is used as bedding it should be fresh, clean and dry.
Wooden grating must be well above the ground and enclosed on the windward side to maintain a draught-free environment.
Maintain Hygienic Conditions
At the end of each calf rearing season remove the bedding and clean the shed out. If your calf rearing is seasonal, a spell of 3 months combined with effective disinfection will ensure a hygienic environment for the next calves. If your calves are reared continuously, after each batch of calves is put out you will need to clean the shed and all the equipment and surrounds to remove dry manure and feed residues. Sterilise by spraying with an effective disinfectant such as Virkon® or Akricide®. These disinfectants can be misted throughout the shed while calves are still inside; nevertheless, sheds are best disinfected between batches. Allowing extra shed room for the number of calves reared will allow some pens to be rested on a rotational basis.
Never use a high pressure hose to clean the manure out of your sheds if calves are inside; this kind of hosing makes the calves breathe in atomised faeces and bacteria, making them more susceptible to pneumonia.
