Pressure on spring-calving suckler farms is really starting to ramp up as a result of bad weather. Many early spring-calving herds are halfway through calving and sheds are almost at capacity. On the flip side, later-calving herds are only in the early stages, but a lot of these won’t have budgeted for housing a high volume of calves for long. With Met Éireann forecasting more cold and wet conditions over the coming days, suckler farmers will have to be on high alert to keep calves healthy while indoors.
Bedding should be sufficiently deep so the calf can ‘nest’ and trap a layer of warm air around itself.
Accommodation
Assuming we have enough calving pens and/or dry-bedded pens to accommodate the calf and its mother for the first 24 to 48 hours of the calf’s life, the challenge is where to go with it after that. In an ideal world it would go to grass, but in current conditions that’s highly unlikely. So, if the calf has to stay indoors, there are a number of key points to consider:
A dry bed is essential for a calf’s health. A calf will spend up to 80% of its time lying down and a wet bed is a breeding ground for disease. A dry bed also significantly reduces the lower critical temperature – the temperature a calf can be exposed to before it must increase its metabolic rate to stay warm. A dry bed of straw has a lower critical temperature of 8°C, whereas wet straw is in excess of 10°C and a concrete floor is up to 17°C. The layer of bedding is also vital. Bedding should be deep enough for the calf to nest and trap a layer of warm air around itself. This reduces the critical temperature further. As a rule of thumb, a calf’s legs should not be visible in the straw.Each calf requires approximately 1.5m2 of floor space. Ideally, a floor gradient should be 1:20 to allow adequate drainage, but regular cleaning and bedding can alleviate this.To achieve these points, segregation is the best tactic. Cows and calves lying together is a recipe for disaster as it is next to impossible to maintain a dry bed, to maintain a thick layer of straw and to provide enough lying space. To segregate, creep areas should be set up. Ideally, cows should go back on to slats and calves should have access to a straw-bedded area. In some cases, these will be specifically designed lie-backs but in many cases, it can be as simple as temporarily adapting the centre passage of the shed (see main picture). Even where cows have to stay on straw-bedded sheds, you should still set up a creep area in a section of that shed for calves only.
Diet
Calves are born as pre-ruminants and will get all of their dietary requirements from milk. But between four and eight weeks of age, the calf’s rumen will be in a developmental phase. In the case of suckler calves outdoors, they will begin to pick at small amounts of grass and will drink water which aids rumen development. However, if still indoors, minor supplementation can play a hugely positive role in rumen development. When a calf consumes water and a small amount of concentrates, bacterial fermentation is initiated in the rumen. This generates larger amounts of volatile fatty acids which, in turn, are responsible for quicker rumen development.
By one week of age, suckler calves should have access to fresh water. By three weeks of age suckler calves still indoors should be offered some concentrates and roughage. Remember, less is more. A couple handfuls of concentrates to a pen of calves is more than enough to start with and it should be refreshed daily.
Table 1 shows a list of common pathogens in young calves and the age at which they can be affected. Some herds will have been vaccinated against coronavirus, E coli and rotavirus prior to calving. If you vaccinated against these, the antibodies are only passed to the calf via the colostrum so it is vital that calves are getting colostrum within six hours of birth. Diseases like BVD and Salmonella may also have been vaccinated against. The only silver lining that could come from calves being indoors for longer is the opportunity to vaccinate and dis-bud prior turnout, rather than having to bring calves in again.
Pressure on spring-calving suckler farms is really starting to ramp up as a result of bad weather. Many early spring-calving herds are halfway through calving and sheds are almost at capacity. On the flip side, later-calving herds are only in the early stages, but a lot of these won’t have budgeted for housing a high volume of calves for long. With Met Éireann forecasting more cold and wet conditions over the coming days, suckler farmers will have to be on high alert to keep calves healthy while indoors.
Bedding should be sufficiently deep so the calf can ‘nest’ and trap a layer of warm air around itself.
Accommodation
Assuming we have enough calving pens and/or dry-bedded pens to accommodate the calf and its mother for the first 24 to 48 hours of the calf’s life, the challenge is where to go with it after that. In an ideal world it would go to grass, but in current conditions that’s highly unlikely. So, if the calf has to stay indoors, there are a number of key points to consider:
A dry bed is essential for a calf’s health. A calf will spend up to 80% of its time lying down and a wet bed is a breeding ground for disease. A dry bed also significantly reduces the lower critical temperature – the temperature a calf can be exposed to before it must increase its metabolic rate to stay warm. A dry bed of straw has a lower critical temperature of 8°C, whereas wet straw is in excess of 10°C and a concrete floor is up to 17°C. The layer of bedding is also vital. Bedding should be deep enough for the calf to nest and trap a layer of warm air around itself. This reduces the critical temperature further. As a rule of thumb, a calf’s legs should not be visible in the straw.Each calf requires approximately 1.5m2 of floor space. Ideally, a floor gradient should be 1:20 to allow adequate drainage, but regular cleaning and bedding can alleviate this.To achieve these points, segregation is the best tactic. Cows and calves lying together is a recipe for disaster as it is next to impossible to maintain a dry bed, to maintain a thick layer of straw and to provide enough lying space. To segregate, creep areas should be set up. Ideally, cows should go back on to slats and calves should have access to a straw-bedded area. In some cases, these will be specifically designed lie-backs but in many cases, it can be as simple as temporarily adapting the centre passage of the shed (see main picture). Even where cows have to stay on straw-bedded sheds, you should still set up a creep area in a section of that shed for calves only.
Diet
Calves are born as pre-ruminants and will get all of their dietary requirements from milk. But between four and eight weeks of age, the calf’s rumen will be in a developmental phase. In the case of suckler calves outdoors, they will begin to pick at small amounts of grass and will drink water which aids rumen development. However, if still indoors, minor supplementation can play a hugely positive role in rumen development. When a calf consumes water and a small amount of concentrates, bacterial fermentation is initiated in the rumen. This generates larger amounts of volatile fatty acids which, in turn, are responsible for quicker rumen development.
By one week of age, suckler calves should have access to fresh water. By three weeks of age suckler calves still indoors should be offered some concentrates and roughage. Remember, less is more. A couple handfuls of concentrates to a pen of calves is more than enough to start with and it should be refreshed daily.
Table 1 shows a list of common pathogens in young calves and the age at which they can be affected. Some herds will have been vaccinated against coronavirus, E coli and rotavirus prior to calving. If you vaccinated against these, the antibodies are only passed to the calf via the colostrum so it is vital that calves are getting colostrum within six hours of birth. Diseases like BVD and Salmonella may also have been vaccinated against. The only silver lining that could come from calves being indoors for longer is the opportunity to vaccinate and dis-bud prior turnout, rather than having to bring calves in again.
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