Coping with cold weather: revising the winter calf management regime

Thursday 12 February 2009 00:00

Coping with cold weather: revising the winter calf management regime

It’s winter and we wrap up and eat more food to keep warm and fend off the seasonal bugs; but what about your calves? Are they getting enough milk for the extra energy requirement needed in winter?

 Dairy calves fed a sole diet of milk will grow at an average 0.34kg per day in their first few weeks under normal conditions – when the environmental temperature ranges between 15C and 25C, what’s termed the thermoneutral zone. However, when that temperature falls to freezing their growth rate plummets to zero too, simply because they require so much more energy just to keep warm, explains Volac’s milk replacer specialist, Maggie Gould. “Those conditions apply additional stress to the calf, and that’s when health problems start to kick in.”

 XL Vets’ Adelle Isaacs of the Larkmead Veterinary Group, Wallingford says: “In fact any form of stress causes an increase in circulating cortisol levels which in turn will lower a calf’s immunity to any bugs it encounters. Anything that potentially reduces a calf’s immunity will result in increased disease, usually in the form of calf scour, navel ill and joint ill.”

 Maggie Gould continues: “Furthermore, when calves are born on very cold days it takes them longer to stand and suckle. This may mean that these calves do not receive enough colostrum to ensure adequate transfer of immunity. We cannot overemphasise the importance of colostrum. It’s vital every calf receives six pints of colostrum within the first six hours of life if you want a herd of healthy cattle. It’s worth noting Hillsborough’s Dr Alistair Carson told a recent Volac calf conference in Ireland that calves fed colostrum either by stomach tube or by bottle within their first few hours, compared with those left to suckle their dam, are almost three times more likely to have adequate immunity to fight off neonatal diseases.”

 Farmers can help their calves to cope with periods of cold weather, avoid stress and maintain daily liveweight gain if they take up the following points advises Adelle Isaacs.

 Provide areas of shelter, for example, by using whole bales in the shed. 

• Use straw as the bedding substrate - it provides a great deal of insulation.
• House calving cows during cold periods to enable newborn calves to receive more readily the attention and protection they require.
• Make sure every calf receives adequate colostrum by bottle feeding or stomach tubing if necessary. Always seek advice and training from a professional before stomach tubing.
• Try to limit calving difficulties by calving cows in the correct condition and carefully choosing the sire so that calves are born strong and healthy rather than weak and exhausted.
• Step up the amount of milk replacer fed.

 “Since our winter weather is becoming increasingly unpredictable, we must not only look out for very cold weather but also rapid and severe changes in climate,” Adelle says. “For example, December 2008 saw a week of very cold weather followed by a week of much milder weather; at our Oxfordshire practice we observed an increase in pneumonia during this second week. This trend was apparent because warmer air can carry more moisture, increasing the humidity and the transfer of bugs greater in more humid weather.”

She adds: “Calves are the future of the cattle industry and ensuring calves have a good start will go a long way to providing us with strong and healthy herds. Cold weather is yet another challenge that calves can face and it can have a detrimental effect on future health and growth. Remember, when it gets colder, unlike us a calf can’t go and put a coat on or drink more milk to maintain weight gain and stay healthy.”

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