Dr. Robert Tremblay sees a lot of calf bottles soaking in sinks. Like they are supposed to get clean that way. 

“It must be a recreational activity. I guess bottles like to swim every day,” joked the veterinarian as he addressed the issue of cleaning in regards to calf health. 

His prescribed “bottle and pail cleaning routine” generated a lot of interest as many farmers realized they might be cleaning, but they aren’t doing it right.

Cleaning and calf rearing go hand in hand although at least one panel member on the subject was apologetic when she revealed pails rarely get washed. Yet she has a death rate of less than one percent.

From pail cleaning to ventilation to milk replacer, the factors surrounding calf rearing were varied at Grey Agri Services Dairy Day during Grey-Bruce Farmer’s Week held in Elmwood.

Tremblay was the first to speak and he focussed on available tools to offer more consistent calf management, particularly when there are multiple employees raising calves.

“Many of the important decisions in calf management, especially for very young calves, are made based on experience and assumptions,” explained Tremblay. “As research and technology advances, we have more access to convenient and inexpensive tools that can take much guesswork out of important decisions.”

Specifically he was referring to use of a BRIX refractometer, product labels, cleaning sequences and calf health scoring charts.

The calf scoring chart is a free download from the University of Wisconsin  (https://www.vetmed. wisc.edu/dms/fapm/fapmtools/8calf/calf_health_scoring_chart.pdf) that has images ranging from healthy to very sick for eyes, ears and feces. It allows farmers to compare their calf to the chart and score it for heath.

“It’s an especially good tool if you have multiple employees,” said Tremblay. “It’s better to measure than guess.”

A BRIX refractometer is a tool that measures solids  in  milk or blood and is ideal for measuring the immunoglobulin in colostrum. Cow colostrum can measure between 20 and 100 milligrams per millilitre. Ideally, colostrum should measure over 22 per cent of total volume, said Tremblay. “Then remember to clean the instrument!” he instructed. Use alcohol to remove any fat that will accumulate and distort readings.

If using milk replacer on your dairy farm, Tremblay said it’s really important to read the label because some companies say to add water to make 10 litres while others say add 10 litres of water to the powder.

“There is nothing more basic to calf health that making sure calves get enough groceries,” said Tremblay. “Taking the inaccuracies out of mixing milk replacer is a way to do that.”

The temperature of the water is also critical.  The heat of the water affects the fat and solubility of the replacer which, in turn, affects the calf’s absorption of the product.

This is critical during the cold of winter when calves are burning calories just by staying in one spot.

Tremblay’s final bit of advice concerned cleaning.

“I was on one farm where they never cleaned the bottles. It’s true!” said Tremblay. “Now most farmers clean pails and bottle but many don’t clean effectively.”

Tremblay outlined a cleaning sequence (see blue sidebar) saying that most people rinse with hot water. However, this bakes fat and protein on the plastic surfaces. Rinsing with lukewarm water takes out the fat and proteins before they adhere.

Also, most farmers who disinfect don’t leave it on long enough. “Disinfectant needs minutes, not seconds.”

Disinfecting before cleaning is also ineffective because fats and proteins neutralize products like Javex. Mechanical dishwashers are an effective way to clean pails and bottles as long as the pails and bottles are rinsed first.

Anita Van Vuuren, whose job it is to raise calves on the family Firepower dairy farm near Elmwood said preventing disease in calves is the number one thing.

She spoke with Tremblay about the calf scoring chart to help her detect early signs of illness.

“There is always room for improvement on a dairy a farm,” she said.

Later in they day, a panel of young farmers who work closely with calves shared how they raise calves on their dairy farms.

Tyler Kuntz was first up, his slide show presenting the new calf barn built on his family’s third-generation, Walkerton-area, dairy farm. Working on Ikendale Farms since 2004 when he graduated from college, Kuntz explained the farm has 340 purebred Holstein cows milking three times a day on a 30-stall rotary parlour. They also have 360 young stock housed on the farm. They crop 2,000 acres of which 1,000 is owned and the other 1,000 rented. There are five owners, nine full-time employees and nine part-time employees.

The positive air pressure calf barn was built in 2015. It has two air tubes pushing fresh air in the barn with five exhaust chimneys releasing stale air outside.

Opening the barn to this reporter after the meeting, the barn looked to be the epitome of comfort for calves. All the young calves are blanketed and lying in deep, clean straw. The air is cold and fresh and the calves look healthy. 

Specifically, there are 20 individual pens to house calves for seven to 10 days. They get mixed into groups of  10 calves bedded with sawdust and straw. They stay in this same group for six months before transferring to the heifer barn. They are mixed into groups of 60 and learn to bed on mattressed free stalls and eat a forage-based TMR ration.

Calves are left with their dams for four to 12 hours and then moved into the individual calf pens. Each calf receives three litres of her mother’s milk and one bag of powdered colostrum. 

“I like the insurance of that bag. Just in case that dam milk is not as good,” said Kuntz. If the dam isn’t supplying quality colostrum, calves are given three bags of colostrum until their immunoglobulin level reaches 180.

The calf barn is an ideal human environment but Kuntz is frustrated that the calf barn cannot compete with the health benefits of raising calves in outdoor hutches. Pneumonia is not a huge issue but it is present. 

The other two farmers on the panel – Andrew Frankland of Wigmana Farms near Dundalk and Laura Schuurman, herd manager for Summitholm Holsteins – both raise calves outside in hutches. 

Schuurman said given the result of raising calves outside at Summitholm, she would not consider building a calf barn. “I love the calves we get out of those hutches,” she said.

“I gave up health gains with the new barn,” admitted Kuntz. “My goal, though, is to get that barn working like a calf hutch...more fresh air without a draft. Our barn is not quite right yet.”

He said it’s frustrating to have these great little calves born and watch them struggle with pneumonia three weeks later. Kuntz said watching the calves is critical and he doesn’t hesitate to treat calves with antibiotics as soon as they exhibit signs of pneumonia.

At Wigmana Farms, newborns receive colostrum, a first-defence bolus and a shot of Vitamin E and selenium within the first few hours.

Within six to 18 hours, whenever it is convenient for Andrew or his parents (Stephen and Dorothy Frankland), the calf is moved into a hutch. Inforce 3 nasal vaccine is administered at this time.

Once in the hutch, the calf receives colostrum/transition milk for three days. Calves are fed twice a day receiving whole milk via a bottle ranging from six litres per day at one week, to nine litres per day up to 49 days of age, then stepped down after 49 days.

Calves stay in the hutches up to three months of age with free-choice starter and water the entire time. Hay is also offered.

Cryptosporidiosis has been a problem on the farm in the past, causing calf diarrhea. 

At Summitholm, owned by the Loewith Family near Lyndon, Schuurman says she accepts the cold, snowy weather conditions to raise 55-65 calves in hutches until they are eight weeks old.

Newborns receive three litres of colostrum within the first two hours and another three within 12 hours. Their navals are dipped with chlorhexidine, they receive a selenium injection while the dam is  given an oral calcium bolus.

Summitholm calves are also susceptible to cryptospiridia diarrhea issues and Schuurman believes switching to transitional milk (second or third day milk from fresh cows) has “really worked.”

The stepped down weaning system involves feedings calves nine litres per day for weeks one to four; six litres per day for weeks five to six; three litres of milk per day for weeks seven to eight. Whole milk is used with milk replacer added mostly for flavour.

“The little rats don’t like the taste of milk out of the pipeline so that’s why we feed them a mix of milk and calf starter,” said Schuurman.

After eight weeks, the calves are moved to a new heifer barn for calves two to six months old. Pneumonia is a problem in the barn even though a positive pressure ventilation system was installed a year after construction.

Dr. Tremblay and the audience had some good questions for the trio following their slide show presentations.

1) If there was one thing you could change to make life better for you or the calves, what would it be?

“Better ventilation in the calf barn,” said Schuurman. “I grow these great little calves and then they  get pneumonia in that calf barn three weeks later.”

2) How effective is your calf record-keeping system?

“Honestly, we keep poor records for calves and heifers. If we could force ourselves to do better, I’m sure our veterinarian would really appreciate it,” admitted Kuntz.

“We also keep poor records,” said Schuurman. “I do think better records would be useful when we are making culling decisions later in life. I have a set of twins in the barn with a difference of 4,000 litres in production between the one who had pneumonia and the one who did not.”

3) Do you use a refractometer?

“We have one that we got free with a skid of feed once. Every now and then I test colostrum, more as a curiosity than a protocol,” said Kuntz.

“We don’t use one. I find it hard enough just to get colostrum as it is and I figure poor colostrum is still better than no colostrum,” said Schuurman.

4) Poor colostrum is something I hear more of. Why do you think cows are producing less colostrum?

“Goodness, I wish I knew,” exclaimed Schuurman. “We have been working with our nutritionist to find out why. 

“Could it be calcium binders in the ration?” someone asked.

“You know, I don’t have any numbers but I do think the cows are producing less colostrum since we’ve been on that product. It fixed our milk fever issues in cows but I’m not sure its worth sacrificing colostrum for,”said Kuntz.

5) For each of you who have multiple people feeding calves, what is your system for communication?

“I love whiteboards. I put them up all over our barn,” said Schuurman. “We have full-time staff doing the first two feedings of the day and part-time staff doing the rest. We all know highschool students mature at different rates. So all I expect is that they write down what calves did not drink. Then I know which calves to pay special attention to.”

“We have a whiteboard to track dry treatments and drenching,” said Frankland. “For transitioning calves we use colour-coded tags on the hutches.”

“I like having our protocols printed and posted,” said Kuntz. “I also think its really important to have employees involved. Have conversations. Get them to think. Let them come up with answers.”

6) How do you get milk out to the hutches? And how do you clean your bottles and pails?

“We have an automatic calf feeder which measures and tests the milk providing a consistent  product,” said Kuntz. “We also use an industrial dishwasher and do an acid rinse in the dishwasher.

“We have a custom-made frame that allows us to transport 23 calf bottles,” said Frankland. “After use, we rinse and wash them and put them upside down on a rack to dry.”

“We use a milk taxi designed in Germany. We fill it with water and milk replacer and it mixes it, revealing the temperature. It is also a volume dispenser,” said Schuurman. “Bottles are washed but the calf bowls are not washed. Sometimes not even between calves. We don’t wash the calf hutches between calves either. I have a zero per cent mortality on the last 16 months so my thinking is I could spend two hours washing....to what gain?” ◊