20 calving questions with vet Donal Lynch

1 What are the most important points for farmers to adhere to at calving on farms?

I know it’s a simple one, but in terms of maintaining good hygiene, clipping tails can have a big impact on keeping udders clean. Make sure all dosing is up to date for fluke and worms. Move cows out to good clean, dry bedding before calving to clean off cows. Making sure a good quality mineral is fed before calving is also very important. Finally, talk to your vet about scour vaccination and whether it is required for your farm.

2 When is the right time to intervene in a calving case?

It’s difficult to be specific but progress is key. If the cow is progressing, leave her to it. Generally, if progress is slow, you should intervene two hours after the first waterbag, but investigate sooner if excessive non-productive forcing is taking place or if something looks wrong e.g one leg coming without a head, a swollen tongue.

Use your instinct– farmers generally have a good feel for calving and they know their cows, so trust yourself if you think something’s not right. There is no harm in handling early, particularly if you’re expecting problems e.g if the cow is carrying to a hard calving bull, or if the cow has had issues calving in the past.

3 What’s the correct way to use the calving jack?

If you are in doubt, seek advice. Call the vet or a more experienced operator. It’s important to stay calm, stay relaxed and take your time.

Every calving case is different

Don’t panic and just jack whenever the cow is pressing. Let the cow do the work.

If you get stuck, stop and seek advice. Every calving case is different. The calving jack gives you a lot of power and it’s important to be careful with this power to avoid calving paralysis, or issues with broken legs.

4 Once the calf is out what are the key points to look at?

First priority is your safety. So often I see people excited that the calf is ok and jumping in to see if it’s a bull or a heifer and the cow gets protective. Make sure the cow is safely secured. Clear the calf’s mouth and airways to stimulate breathing. Farmers are very familiar with the right things to do at this stage.

Stand back and let the cow lick them

Vigorous rubbing with straw can help, so can pouring cold water in the ear or stimulating breathing by putting some straw up the calf’s nose.

If its been a difficult calving, try and sit the calf on their chest. Stand back and let the cow lick them. This is probably the best stimulation, so let nature do its work.

5 What are your top three tips for colostrum?

Quality is important and this starts with getting the dry cow diet right. If silage is very low in protein, feeding soya can help. Everything to do with colostrum needs to be very clean. This is a newborn calf, very open to any form of infection, so make sure buckets, teats and stomach tubes are washed regularly during the calving season.

A good tip is to use something like Milton and hot water to disinfect. Aim to feed 8% of bodyweight within the first two hours of birth. If you have a 40kg calf, that’s around 3l. Make sure the colostrum is warm.

6 Tube or teat: which is best?

There nothing to replace a cow’s teat, but sometimes this isn’t practical if a calf won’t suck or can’t get up. Stimulating the sucking reflex is important, so my next preference would be to try a bottle with a teat on it.

The last resort is the stomach tube

Sometimes I find a lamb’s teat is easier to suck on for a weak calf and it doesn’t let out as much milk, which could prevent it going down the lungs.

The last resort is the stomach tube. While it’s a great way of feeding the calf, you shouldn’t continue to use it for longer than a few days. Every effort should be made to get the calf to suck. I think sucking gives the calf strength somehow.

7 Should calf jackets be used?

I use calf jackets a lot and I find them a great job for compromised calves that are sick or premature. If resources are under pressure and you have to move calves to sheds not designed for them, they can be a short-term fix if tight for sheds. I advise using them for all sick calves to my clients.

8 Straw, peat or woodchips– what do you recommend for calving on?

In my opinion, its straw all the way at calving time. It’s the only job for very young calves. Straw creates a sort of nest for young calves, which can help keep them warm.

Peat can be great to clean up cows approaching calving and wood chip can work well under straw for soakage.

9 How can coccidiosis be controlled on farms?

Coccidiosis control is very farm -dependant. If you have had issues with it in the past, you need to get in early and dose calves. Long-term farmers need to plan to improve hygiene in creep areas and slatted pens to avoid calves ingesting coccidia oocytes.

10 How can cryptosporidium, be cured or prevented?

If I could solve all the crypto problems on farms, I’d be a very wealthy man. Crypto is spread in faeces, so prevention is far better than cure in my opinion. Reduce calves’ exposure to faeces by maintaining good hygiene with cows and in the environment around calving.

Ensure you give them maximum immunity with a good colostrum plan. If in doubt, there are some good supportive products that can be given orally. If you have a problem, get farm specific control and treatment advice.

There are a number of products available, but none are as good as prevention. Crypto is the biggest issue in young calves, but cover for rotavirus and corona will reduce disease pressures on calves.

11 What’s the best practice for treating calf scour?

Keeping them hydrated with supplementary fluids is the first step. Keep them warm with a calf jacket or a red light, etc and keep them on milk.

A good piece of advice is to get the vet early. I see too many bad cases and calf scour is much more difficult to cure the longer it’s going on. Finding the cause and preventing it are the two biggest things.

12 How do you prevent and treat pneumonia in calves under six weeks?

As with calf scour, prevention is better than cure. Look at colostrum feeding, good ventilation without low level drafts and warmth. There are good vaccinations available and chat with your vet about what suits your farm.

Have an agreed standard approach with the vet on how to treat sick calves. It’s not one size fits all and treatment on one farm might be different on another farm.

Know the signs of pneumonia and keep very close watch. If they are picked up in the early stages, the outcome will be a lot better.

13 Should calling the vet be the last resort?

Obviously, in my opinion no. If you get the vet as a last resort, in a lot of cases a good outcome will be very difficult.

The vet can contribute far more to your animal’s welfare, quality of life and your profit by working with you to prevent disease and not just implement fire brigade tactics in the face of a disease outbreak.

As antibiotic usage comes under more scrutiny, this part of farming will become more and more important

For example, in the case of a difficult calving, the vet has the experience of many a farmer’s difficult calving, so work with your vet to get the best outcome with sick animals.

In addition, start using them more to prevent disease and improve farm performance.

As antibiotic usage comes under more scrutiny, this part of farming will become more and more important. It’s in the vet’s interest that the farmer is operating a profitable business.

14 What can you do to help dull, lifeless calves?

The number one thing here is patience. You have to feed them a couple of times daily – morning and evening isn’t enough.

Investigate underlying problems, eg neospora, mineral deficiency issues. If it was a hard calving, the use of a painkiller is important.

15 Should scour tablets, still be used?

Scour tablets are basically oral antibiotics. Virtually all calf scours are crypto, rotavirus and corona virus.

None of these are susceptible to antibiotics, so antibiotics shouldn’t be used to treat them. Oral antibiotics contribute to the antimicrobial resistance problem and are a waste of money.

16 Electrolytes – what is the best way to use them?

There are loads of products on the market. I would use different products in different situations.

They need to be properly balanced and with an energy source to aid them crossing to the blood, most are fine. Different vets have different preferences.

17 Should a red light be used?

Heat is hugely important to a sick calf, but I would advise a calf jacket before I would put a red lamp with calves.

18What do you reccommend for navel treatment?

Spray with chlorhexidine navel dip. Research has shown it’s a better product than iodine.

19 Calving in the crush, yes or no?

We’ve all had to do it when there was no other option, but in this day and age, anyone calving cows needs to have at least one calving gate on their farm. A crush can be a disaster if they go down midway through calving.

20 Five things you look for in a pen at calving?