 2011 Calf-ETERIA Study Benchmarking Ontario dairy calf raising practices & Opportunities for Improvement Central Ontario Agriculture Conference 2012 Georgian College, Barrie

Presentation Outline  What is Calf-ETERIA?  About the project  Calf and Heifer Management Survey  Results  Opportunities for improvement  Next Steps

Calf-ETERIA  Using CALF health and productivity as a template for an Evaluation of Translation and Extension of Research Information for Agriculture

What is Calf-ETERIA ?  A University of Guelph-OMAFRA Knowledge Translation and Transfer funded project. Team Members:  Ken Leslie – Project Coordinator  Tom Wright – Project Co-Coordinator  Vivianne Bielmann – Project Manager  Trevor DeVries  Mario Mongeon  Brian Lang  Bill Grexton  Harold House  Betty Summerhayes  Ian Rumbles

Project Objectives  Benchmark current dairy calf and heifer management practices  Develop approaches to undertaking KTT initiatives to improve awareness and encourage adoption of, known optimal management techniques to increase economic performance and health  Evaluate and quantify both the animal health and economic performance subsequent to their initial benchmark  Disseminate case-study based benefits of optimal management systems to demonstrate both financial and animal health improvements to all Ontario dairy producers through producer meetings and web-based media

3 KTT Approaches  Calf and Heifer management clubs  Including interaction with veterinarians  Web-based KTT for BMP’s for calves & heifers  Control Group

Benefits Ontario dairy producers from two key perspectives:  Economically – through reduced costs attributed to death losses, animal morbidity and associated treatment costs and reduction in compromised lifetime milk production losses, as a result of health problems encountered as a calf  Improved welfare of dairy calves and heifers - through increased survival rates and improved health-status Expected Benefits and Impacts

 IMPACTS  To change and improve specific aspects about the management of calves and heifers on Ontario dairy farms

Ontario Calf and Heifer Management Survey  3,145 surveys were mailed out to dairy producers on DHI  The survey was also available online  921 surveys were completed and returned by mail  43 surveys were completed online  30% response

Status of Survey

Distribution of Herd Size Herd SizeNumber of Farms 0 – 50 cows – 100 cows – 150 cows – 200 cows – 250 cows – 350 cows cows7

Calf Care WhoFrequency Owner352 Spouse86 Owner/Spouse66 Family Member90 Employee24 Multiple Individuals (combination of 2 or more of the above) 330 **N=948** **51.6% male, 21.5% female, 26.9% both**

Time Spent on Calf Care Time SpentPercentage Less than or equal to 1 hour/day53.5% 1 – 2 hours/day42.4% 2 – 3 hours/day0.8% More than 3 hours/day3.3% **N=849**

Cost of Labour  Employee wages, for calf care, ranged from $5 /hour up to $25 /hour, depending on the farm

Where are Calves normally Born? LocationPercentage Individual Calving Pen31% Group Maternity Pen11.6% Dry Cow Pen7.8% Tie Stall/Free Stall7.9% Pasture (when applicable)29.6% Combination of 2 or more of the above40.2%

Video Surveillance Use  75 / 930 producers indicated that video surveillance is currently used to monitor cows in the calving area  Herd sizes of these 75 ranged from 28 cows up to 550 cows

Separation of Calf from Dam Time from calving to separation Morning (N=929) Afternoon (N=924) Evening (N=925) Night (N=920) 0-2 hrs after calving46%35%40%11% 2-6 hrs after calving25%37%19%35% 6-12 hrs after calving16%13%24%36% Greater than 12 hrs after calving 13%15%17%18%

Separation Technique  Total Separation to Calf Housing  758 (81%)  Partial Separation using a tub or gate  98 (10%)  Other + Partial or Total separation  17 (2%)  Other  67 (7%)  Methods Used:  Moved to box stall/calf pens  Tied to corner of calving pen  Cow is removed from pen  Tied up alongside cows  Calf stays with cow for hours/until licked dry/up to 3 days

Calving Assistance  On average, how often was assistance required during a calving, in the past year?  Never  0.4%  Less than 10%  27%  10 – 20%  41%  More than 20% of calvings  23.6%  Exact percentage  7.4%  Range: 1% - 98%

Disinfecting Navels  Is it routine practice to disinfect the navel of each newborn calf?  YES  38%  NO  62%

Disinfecting Navels  Why do it?  Prevent infections – stop pathogens from going up the cord into the calf’s body  Navel infections can lead to other health problems  Some studies show decreased growth associated with navel infections  An easy, cost-effective method to help prevent disease

Products administered shortly after Birth Treatment None490 (51.5%) Vitamin E/Selenium218 (23%) Vitamins A, D and E97 (10%) Oral Antibody or vaccine277 (29%) Iron26 (3%) Intranasal Viral Vaccine3 (0.3%) More than one of the above152 (16%) **N=950 N.B. – Percentages do not add up to 100%

Selenium  1980’s and 1990’s supplementing newborn calves with selenium and vitamin E injections was common practice  Still widely done in beef cow-calf operations,  Recent research from the University of Guelph showed calves supplemented with selenium and vitamin E injections were less likely to develop diarrhea from viral pathogens (i.e. rotavirus)

Colostrum Feeding  What percentage of calves nurse the dam?  0%  429  1-10%  189  11-30%  83  31-50%  49  60-90%  30  %  18

Colostrum Feeding Method0%1-10%11-30%31-50%51-90% % Bottle Bucket Tube

Amount of Colostrum Fed

Differences in Volume of Colostrum Fed  Weight  132  Calf’s Health Status  215  Sex of Calf  19  Let calf drink ‘at will’  7  Combination of 2 or more of the above  115

Colostrum Quality  How many producers are checking colostrum quality?  281/931  30%  How are they checking it?  Colour and/or consistency  72% (265/370)  Volume  19% (70/370)  Colostrometer  6% (23/370)  Refractometer  0.2% (1/370)  Laboratory  3% (11/370)

Colostrum Quality  Importance of colostrum quality  Quality decreases quickly after calving. Collection should occur within 1 to 2 hours, max of 6 hrs.  The relationship between IgG concentrations and volume of colostrum is unpredictable

Milk Feeding

 How are calves being fed?  Bucket  37% (332/890)  Milk Bar  3% (22/890)  Nurse Bottle  29% (262/890)  Robot Milk Feeder  3% (27/890)  Other Free-Access feeding system  1% (12/890)  Combination of 2 or more  26% (235/890)

Milk Feeding  How much is being fed daily in Week 1?

Milk Feeding  How much is being fed daily in Week 4?

 Feeding programs based on feeding 500 g of milk (4L) or milk replacer DM day puts the calf at serious risk for limited or no growth during the first weeks of life unless environmental conditions of temperature and moisture are optimal Traditional milk feeding levels (Courtesy of Trevor DeVries)

Increased milk feeding levels for accelerated growth  Recommendation now is to feed calves more milk – increase rate of frame growth (not fattening per se)  Feed whole milk ad libitum (free access) or at other high levels (8-10+ L/day)  Feed more milk replacer  1 to 1.5 kg of powder/day  26-28% CP, 15-20% fat  Achieve gains of 1 to 1.5 kg/d of growth pre-weaning (Courtesy of Trevor DeVries)

Calf age (weeks) Milk consumed (kg/d) Calves will drink more milk when they are provided the opportunity Ad libitum Conventional Jasper & Weary, 2002; J. Dairy Sci. 85: Free Access Feeding of Milk to Calves (Courtesy of Trevor DeVries)

Higher growth rates during the milk-feeding phase have long-term benefits!  Great weight at calving  increased weight gain during the first 2 mo of life results in significantly greater body weight at 24 mo of age (Moallem et al J. Dairy Sci. 93: )  Survivability  Heifers that reached second lactation grew more between 12 and 65 d of age than those that did not (Bach J. Dairy Sci. 94: ) (Courtesy of Trevor DeVries)

Water  At what age is fresh water offered to calves?  0 – 5 days  23% (215/920)  5 – 10 days  29% (268/920)  More than 10 days  30% (280/920)  Not until after weaning  17% (157/920)

Importance of Water  Most essential nutrient, represents 70% of body weight  Water is lost from respiration and manure  Water intake is positively correlated with dry matter intake (Courtesy of Tom Wright)

Water Recommendations  Should be offered from 3 days of age  Helps to promote starter intake  Preferably free choice access  Needs to be clean  Calves prefer to drink warm water (though no evidence this improves gain etc., but they will drink more water if it’s warm) (Courtesy of Tom Wright)

Grain  At what age is grain/starter introduced to calves?  0 – 5 days  32% (299/940)  5 – 10 days  46% (430/940)  11 – 20 days  17% (162/940)  More than 20 days of age  5% (49/940)  Do calves have free-choice access to grain/starter?  87%  YES

Introduction of Hay  When are calves normally introduced to hay?  Less than 2 weeks of age  155  2 – 4 weeks of age  195  4 – 6 weeks of age  190  After weaning  20

Recording Information  What information is recorded on individual calves?  Nothing  60  ID info  911  Calving ease info  796  Stillbirth  806  Routine procedures  262  Calf disease events  371  Calf health treatments  463  Growth  62  Death after 24 hours  602  Weaning date  105

Standard Operating Procedures  Are SOP’s used for routine calf management procedures?  Yes, all procedures  18% (167/912)  Yes, only disease and treatment info  13% (123/912)  No  68% (622/912)

Health Problems – Pre-weaning  438 producers ranked scours as a common (3 or 4 on a 1-4 point scale)  Respiratory disease was ranked as common by 216 producers  Navel ill, lameness and droopy ears are considered less common during this period

Weaning  How are calves weaned off milk?  Abruptly stop feeding  191  Decrease volume  249  Dilution of milk  311  Intermittent feeding  98  Combination of methods  93  How is the time of weaning decided?  Calf age  812  Calf weight  293  Starter/grain intake  454 *often this is a combination*

Weaning Age  5 weeks or less  2.4% (21/863)  6 weeks  12% (101/863)  7 weeks  9% (77/863)  8 weeks  36% (311/863)  9 weeks  10% (86/863)  10 weeks or more  31% (267/863)

Health Problems – Post-weaning  175 producers considered respiratory disease to be a common or very common health problem in post-weaned calves

Vaccination  Are calves vaccinated for respiratory disease?  47 % are vaccinating calves against respiratory disease

Average Daily Gain (kg/day) Time Period of Measurement (days) * * * (Courtesy of Amy Stanton)

Welfare Costs of BRD  Clinical disease  Dyspnea (shortness of breath)  Coughing  Anorexia  Depression  Chronic Cases  Possible pulmonary abscesses or fibrous pleuritis  Prolonged clinical signs  Death

BRD Impact on Age at First Calving  Post-movement BRD  YES: 27% (42/157) calved after 25 months  NO: 17% (159/929) calved after 25 months  The odds of a heifer calving prior to 25 months of age was 40% lower for calves treated for BRD compared to calves without BRD (Courtesy of Amy Stanton)

Rations for Heifers  What type of ration are heifers fed?  Components  52% (455/868)  Top-dressed  22% (190/868)  TMR  26% (223/868)

Age at First Breeding

Comparison of Age at First Calving and Productive Life Heifers calving at months have the longest herd life CanWest DHI Productive life in a dairy herd is similar across all ages with a range of less than 4 months (Courtesy of Brian Lang and Bill Grexton)

Age at First Calving and Lifetime Milk Production Highest lifetime production is from heifers calving at 23 to 25 months of age CanWest DHI (Courtesy of Brian Lang and Bill Grexton)

Cost of Raising a Heifer  How much does it cost?  $1000  5% (32/632)  $1000 to $1500  32% (204/632)  $1500 to $2000  58% (366/632)  $2500 to $3000  4% (25/632)  $  1% (5/632)

Cost of Raising a Heifer $2,000 - $2,500 average cost to raise a replacement heifer  Remember overhead costs  Unpaid labour  Plus value of calf (Courtesy of Brian Lang and Bill Grexton)

Take Home Messages  Navel dipping  An easy, cost-effective method for preventing infections  Colostrum – quality  Measuring colostrum quality is easy  Milk feeding  Calves will drink more  Feeding higher volumes of milk will result in higher gains in the pre-weaning period and in later life and may also improve survivability

Take Home Messages  Water intake  An important nutrient  Should be offered by 3 days of age  Promotes starter intake  Disease  Respiratory disease has long term impacts on the production and survivability  Age at first breeding  Can be improved  Heifers calving at months have the highest lifetime production

Next Steps of the Project  January to March  implement the KTT methods (management clubs and web- based modules)  Continue to collect data

Thank You