Sponsored by Dairygold Co-op, the first Animal Health Ireland/Teagasc calf care event took place on the farm of Sean Kearney, who’s milking around 115 cows outside the village of Kilbehenny on the Limerick side of the Cork border.
Eamon Guinevan spoke about the new Johne's disease control programme.
He said that Johne's is a disease of older animals, but animals are infected when they are little calves.
Lowest prevalence
“Ireland has one of the lowest prevalence of Johne's disease in the world, due in most part to our traditional method of calving cows in single pens," he said.
"As herd size is getting bigger and calves are born in group pens and fed pooled milk, the risk of infection from faeces increases.”
He said that there are two phrases you will hear a lot when it comes to Johne's disease and that is “own or known” and “snatching calves”.
Own or known refers to the colostrum that the newborn calf gets.
It should be from either its own dam or a dam that is known to be free of Johne's disease.
He said regular testing of cows is the only way to know their status.
Vet Catherine McAloon, Animal Health Ireland, speaks to one of the groups of farmers that attended the AHI calf care open day on the farm of Sean Kearney, Brackbawn, Kilbehenny, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. \ Donal O' Leary
Snatching calves from their dams as soon as possible, Eamon says 15 minutes, after birth will help to prevent the calf ingesting faeces which carry the disease.
Treating for scour
UCD veterinary lecturer Catherine McAloon spoke about treating calves with scour.
She said prevention is better than cure, but when it comes to curing scour, keeping the calf fed and hydrated is key.
She said electrolytes should be fed twice a day in 2l feeds in between the main feeds of milk.
Keeping calves on milk is very important, she said.
Assessing bedding
Una Hickey from Volac spoke about nesting scores for assessing the bedding in calf sheds.
She said that when a calf is lying down, if you can still see legs, this is a bad sign. This would be a nesting score of one.
Stuart Childs, Teagasc, speaking to a crowd of over 150 farmers that attended the AHI calf care open day on the farm of Sean Kearney, Brackbawn, Kilbehenny, Mitchelstown, Co Cork. \ Donal O' Leary
A nesting score of two is when the legs are partly exposed, while a nesting score of three, which is optimal for calves in their first three weeks of life, is when the legs are not visible at all as the bedding is deep.
Read more
Hygiene should always be on our minds
‘Minister Creed needs to look at doubling live exports’ – IFA
Sponsored by Dairygold Co-op, the first Animal Health Ireland/Teagasc calf care event took place on the farm of Sean Kearney, who’s milking around 115 cows outside the village of Kilbehenny on the Limerick side of the Cork border.
Eamon Guinevan spoke about the new Johne's disease control programme.
He said that Johne's is a disease of older animals, but animals are infected when they are little calves.
Lowest prevalence
“Ireland has one of the lowest prevalence of Johne's disease in the world, due in most part to our traditional method of calving cows in single pens," he said.
"As herd size is getting bigger and calves are born in group pens and fed pooled milk, the risk of infection from faeces increases.”
He said that there are two phrases you will hear a lot when it comes to Johne's disease and that is “own or known” and “snatching calves”.
Own or known refers to the colostrum that the newborn calf gets.
It should be from either its own dam or a dam that is known to be free of Johne's disease.
He said regular testing of cows is the only way to know their status.
Vet Catherine McAloon, Animal Health Ireland, speaks to one of the groups of farmers that attended the AHI calf care open day on the farm of Sean Kearney, Brackbawn, Kilbehenny, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. \ Donal O' Leary
Snatching calves from their dams as soon as possible, Eamon says 15 minutes, after birth will help to prevent the calf ingesting faeces which carry the disease.
Treating for scour
UCD veterinary lecturer Catherine McAloon spoke about treating calves with scour.
She said prevention is better than cure, but when it comes to curing scour, keeping the calf fed and hydrated is key.
She said electrolytes should be fed twice a day in 2l feeds in between the main feeds of milk.
Keeping calves on milk is very important, she said.
Assessing bedding
Una Hickey from Volac spoke about nesting scores for assessing the bedding in calf sheds.
She said that when a calf is lying down, if you can still see legs, this is a bad sign. This would be a nesting score of one.
Stuart Childs, Teagasc, speaking to a crowd of over 150 farmers that attended the AHI calf care open day on the farm of Sean Kearney, Brackbawn, Kilbehenny, Mitchelstown, Co Cork. \ Donal O' Leary
A nesting score of two is when the legs are partly exposed, while a nesting score of three, which is optimal for calves in their first three weeks of life, is when the legs are not visible at all as the bedding is deep.
Read more
Hygiene should always be on our minds
‘Minister Creed needs to look at doubling live exports’ – IFA
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