Observations in raising calves
Mar 31, 2021 16:03:06 GMT -5
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simplynaturalfarm, Shawn, and 38 more like this
Post by bigredcow on Mar 31, 2021 16:03:06 GMT -5
Here's some observations I've made in the last year and a half of raising bottle calves (700 of them)
You get what you pay for. A $50 bag of milk replacer will not perform the same as a $75 bag of milk replacer, even if they are both all-milk and the same fat:protein. That $50 bag is probably the same stuff people were using 30 years ago and the $75 bag has lots of research and development behind it (LOL all the way for me!)
Not all colostrum replacer are created equal. Some are actually made out of serum -from blood taken at the slaughter house! Check your labels and comparison shop if you can. Many of the real colostrum comes from Saskatoon Colostrum (SCCL) but even they aren't all the same. We run blood total proteins and the calves fed one bag of LOL colostrum (made by SCCL) still had as low of total proteins as if they had been fed nothing. Calves fed Calf's Choice colostrum (also by SCCL) had beautiful total proteins even though they have the same amount of IGG in each bag, the LOL has a lot less fat.
More is better when it comes to colostrum. When calves are fed one feeding of colostrum their total proteins are "adequate" but when fed a second feeding of lower quality (typically second milking or heifer colostrum) their total proteins are phenomenal. Those calves bounce back from challenges like scours or pneumonia like nothing happened. We aim to feed 10% of body weight of good colostrum within 2 hours of birth and then I give another 5% 4-18 hours later (before I leave work if they are morning calves, soon as I thaw it in the morning for afternoon and overnight calves)
Mystery sick calf at less than a week old? Check the naval first. Five days of Penicillin or 2-doses of nuflor 3 days apart.
Naval infections can spread to the joints, we know that... but what about their eyeballs?! Yep. Seen it twice. Last one was really icky looking. Took a while to clear up, I did 5 days of excenel and then a dose of LA200 because he was blind as a bat and his eyes were WHITE. He's fine now though, never skipped a beat.
Scours? Calves lose fluids faster than they are able to willingly consume, lactated ringers has a super long shelf life and SQ fluids, unpleasant as it looks is about the only way to keep up with the loss once their eyes are sunken. IV is all but impossible once they are that far gone, and pretty darn hard on a good day anyway. When they arethat bad, it takes 3L SQ and double the normal amount of fluids they get so milk + electrolytes or tubed electrolytes. Not unusual for me to tube 1 1/2 gallons of electrolytes in a down calf and add 3L ringers on top of that if they are down with scours. Has to be enough to correct the dehydration AND prevent it from recurring.
You get what you pay for. A $50 bag of milk replacer will not perform the same as a $75 bag of milk replacer, even if they are both all-milk and the same fat:protein. That $50 bag is probably the same stuff people were using 30 years ago and the $75 bag has lots of research and development behind it (LOL all the way for me!)
Not all colostrum replacer are created equal. Some are actually made out of serum -from blood taken at the slaughter house! Check your labels and comparison shop if you can. Many of the real colostrum comes from Saskatoon Colostrum (SCCL) but even they aren't all the same. We run blood total proteins and the calves fed one bag of LOL colostrum (made by SCCL) still had as low of total proteins as if they had been fed nothing. Calves fed Calf's Choice colostrum (also by SCCL) had beautiful total proteins even though they have the same amount of IGG in each bag, the LOL has a lot less fat.
More is better when it comes to colostrum. When calves are fed one feeding of colostrum their total proteins are "adequate" but when fed a second feeding of lower quality (typically second milking or heifer colostrum) their total proteins are phenomenal. Those calves bounce back from challenges like scours or pneumonia like nothing happened. We aim to feed 10% of body weight of good colostrum within 2 hours of birth and then I give another 5% 4-18 hours later (before I leave work if they are morning calves, soon as I thaw it in the morning for afternoon and overnight calves)
Mystery sick calf at less than a week old? Check the naval first. Five days of Penicillin or 2-doses of nuflor 3 days apart.
Naval infections can spread to the joints, we know that... but what about their eyeballs?! Yep. Seen it twice. Last one was really icky looking. Took a while to clear up, I did 5 days of excenel and then a dose of LA200 because he was blind as a bat and his eyes were WHITE. He's fine now though, never skipped a beat.
Scours? Calves lose fluids faster than they are able to willingly consume, lactated ringers has a super long shelf life and SQ fluids, unpleasant as it looks is about the only way to keep up with the loss once their eyes are sunken. IV is all but impossible once they are that far gone, and pretty darn hard on a good day anyway. When they arethat bad, it takes 3L SQ and double the normal amount of fluids they get so milk + electrolytes or tubed electrolytes. Not unusual for me to tube 1 1/2 gallons of electrolytes in a down calf and add 3L ringers on top of that if they are down with scours. Has to be enough to correct the dehydration AND prevent it from recurring.