With spring calving due to start over the coming weeks, a number of the programme farms have been bringing their herd vaccination programme up to date.

Cows and heifers have been given their annual scour vaccine in an effort to improve calf health after birth.

The earliest born calves are at a lower risk than the later born calves, as there is less build-up of pathogens in calving pens.

Calf scour is one of the leading causes of death in newborn animals and rotavirus is most prevalent in the first two weeks after birth.

Cryptosporidium is more common in calves around one month of age.

While vaccines reduce the risk of scour, there is still a requirement for good levels of hygiene. Cleaning out calving pens may seem more labour-intensive, but the programme farmers who routinely clean and disinfect pens after each use encounter fewer problems with scour than the farms where calving pens are cleaned out less frequently.

With a newborn calf, it is reliant on the dam to pass immunity through colostrum. Within six hours of being born, the calf’s ability to absorb antibodies is reduced by 50%.

By 12 hours old, the calf’s ability to absorb antibodies has almost ceased. Therefore, it is essential that the calf is sucking the cow in the first hours of life.

The ideal recommendation is that the calf receives two litres in the first two hours and the same at six hours.

This can be difficult to achieve in some continental-bred suckler cows. Instead, herd owners should ensure that the calf has suckled the cow for a combined total of 20 minutes in the first two hours of life and the same time period after six hours.

Where calving pens have a high level of soiled bedding and are damp, there is a risk of the newborn calf picking up some form of disease through its naval.

Even after treatment with iodine, there is still a disease risk in pens with heavily soiled bedding.

On/off grazing

Autumn calves are now being provided with the opportunity to get out to graze for a few hours on a daily basis.

With ground conditions poor, the calves are grazing the driest paddocks close to the yard. The calves then receive meal when they are housed in the evening. While the quantity of grass being consumed is small, the main benefit of this practice is that calf health is improved and they are quicker to adjust to spring grazing once permanently turned out.