The back-and-forth winter weather in Wisconsin could bring balmy humidity one day and ice the next. Are you prepared to protect the youngest in your herd from diseases when adverse weather rolls through?
Dr. Eric Rooker with Dairy Doctors works with dairy calves in east central Wisconsin with customer’s herds ranging from 30-head to 3,000. He has five considerations for producers this season.
1. Know if you have a problem
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. Lung ultrasounds are a tool in measuring disease prevalence in your calves before visual warning signs. A lung ultrasound uses the same probe as a pregnancy test. The vet scans the chest cavity looking for lesions. The data over time can tell a producer what the prevalence of disease is in the calf’s environment, whether it’s a calf hutch or a barn, and determine seasonal trends that may require management changes. Winter is a vulnerable time of year for calves when the temperatures can swing widely from day to night.
2. Increase calories
Maintain calorie use efficiency by protecting the feeding temperature. The maternal temperature for feed, the temperature that a calf would get milk from its mother, is between 101.5 and 105 degrees. If your buckets or bottles are sitting in the cold, that could reduce the feeding temperature by 2 degrees. The calf then has to expend significant calories to heat the milk back up to the right temperature which results in weight loss and lack of performance. In cold weather, calves already have an increase in caloric needs by up to 30 percent.
3. Deep and clean bedding
If you can see the legs of your calf, you don’t have them bedded deeply enough. Allow your calves to nest down and insulate as they would in a natural setting to save calories. Make sure the bedding is clean and dry. When calves nest down, they’re tucking themselves into that bedding to protect their core heat. Wet bedding will leach away energy and calories from the calves. The wetness also increases ammonia, which destroys the lung’s ability to prevent pneumonia.
4. Immune modulation
When was the last time you reviewed your calf protocol, specifically the timing of vaccines? Talk with your veterinarian to stay ahead of new vaccines. Rooker says there have been significant changes in this science in the last 2-5 years. Adjusting your vaccine program could save you money because the shots will work harder for your herd. It’s critical to get a bigger bang for the buck you’re already spending.
5. Air quality preservation
Rooker recommends managing barns as if they were huts. Huts are the gold standard for air quality. Consider positive pressure tubes for the barn to keep the elements out while providing plenty of ventilation. Reduce animal loads in the barns, especially at the start of the year which are heavy calving months. Having enough space and an overflow plan can help keep better air quality by reducing ammonia.
As the number one farm insurer in Wisconsin, we want to provide the knowledge and insight to help you make the best decisions to protect your farm and way of life. That’s why we go beyond the policy to educate with additional content around safety and best practices. Reach out to a local agent to learn more.
