Respiratory disease in calves

[Den Boer]

Respiratory disease is the second leading cause of mortality in dairy calves 0-6 months of age behind diarrhea and may account for at least half of all morbidity and mortality in young calves. The highest incidence of respiratory disease in young dairy calves usually occurs from birth to around 6 months of age. Much of this can be blamed on management factors, such as poor colostrum management at birth or commingling just-weaned calves, putting them at higher risk of disease.

http://agritopics.blogspot.com/

Do you have also such experience?

[cpridge]

Yes every winter we see some problems. We send our calves to a wet calf ranch at 2 weeks of age and get them back at 4 months. They come back with it but it takes warm spring weather to get them over it. Any tips for curing it, draxxon helps on some.

[bmvf]

Yes every winter we see some problems. We send our calves to a wet calf ranch at 2 weeks of age and get them back at 4 months. They come back with it but it takes warm spring weather to get them over it. Any tips for curing it, draxxon helps on some.

Get a new grower! I wouldn't be happy if my calves came back with respiratory problems.

I also agree, draxxon works well for those that have it. Nuflor can work on moderate cases but needs more treatments. My dad always reached for aromiacin crumbles (sp?) but I've learned that they can get resistant to that stuff.

[cpridge]

It crossed my mind a few times, when I ask around about other growers it sounds like the calves at other growers in our area THEY ALL WANT TO DIE!!! The other growers themselves say it's under control but their pile of dead calves grows every day!!! I guess I know rate of occurance is actually low it's just frustrating.

[bmvf]

Being that your from Washington, is it more of a problem there due to wetter weather?

[cpridge]

Yeah its a mainly a climate problem. Typically 40 degrees with high humidity from mid to late fall and then warms up and dries out in May. Hutches made life awesome for my 2 week start and then at grower, but they can't stay there forever. They get the coughs and clinical pneunia when they transition from the hutch to the barn(2 months of age). The barn is a sand bedded freestall, would kiln dried sawdust or straw help???

[OzarksMilk]

Yeah its a mainly a climate problem. Typically 40 degrees with high humidity from mid to late fall and then warms up and dries out in May. Hutches made life awesome for my 2 week start and then at grower, but they can't stay there forever. They get the coughs and clinical pneunia when they transition from the hutch to the barn(2 months of age). The barn is a sand bedded freestall, would kiln dried sawdust or straw help???

*******It sounds like the barn is the problem. Our calves go from hutches to outside and we don't have respertory problems. Our calves have scour problems instead. But I can not remember the last case of pnemonia we had in a calf.

[bmvf]

The barn is a sand bedded freestall, would kiln dried sawdust or straw help???

It could help. In my opinion the main reason for respiratory is moist or humid conditions. Cold conditions don't help but they aren't the cause. I would use the sawdust or straw, keep the barn understocked if possible, and look into those sanitary limes or ordinary lime to keep things dry. Keep alleys cleaned as much as possible. If your doing a good job with hutches I'm sure you can do a good job with grouped housing. You just need to find the right combination of bedding, housing and stocking rate.

[1adamj]

Ventilation ventilation ventilation! Proper air flow is key to the reduction of airborn contaminants. Several good articles in Journal of Dairy Science regarding this issue. Calves actually do better with open pens and deep bedding than in solid walled individual pens inside barns. Remember, the air we experience while moving between calf pens is MUCH different than what the calf may be experiencing down at her level.

Another commonly overlooked problem is the fact that, as an industry, we keep our wet calves on a nutritional plane that borders starvation. Calories are the fuel for the engine and are needed for proper immune system function, thermoregulation, maintenance and growth. Hoard's recently had a very good article on the importance of increased dry matter intake of wet calves during cold weather.

As for bedding, the majority of recent research is favoring deep bedded, long straw for young calves. If it is deep enough for calves to "nest" (all 4 legs not visible when calf is lying) their lower critical temperature can be dropped as much as 10 degrees F. Should go without saying that clean and dry also required.

An effective vaccination protocol can help, but won't be much good if overall challenge is too high.

[evergreenag]

Do any of you use biologics to help control pathogens and create a healthier environment? I have just been looking into this myself.

[cpridge]

EvergreenAG,
Do you mean vaccine by biologics??? Where are you from??