Calf health is an important aspect of dairy farming because only healthy calves become productive dairy cows. Farmers and vets are always looking for tools to help them rear healthier calves and reduce reliance on antibiotics. Pneumonia, in particular, has long been a major challenge in calf rearing. It poses a risk of permanent damage to the lungs and can later lead to reduced performance as a dairy cow.
In practice, the problem is that the infection is often not noticed initially and only severe cases with clear symptoms are clinically apparent. CowManager’s Youngstock Monitor is a valuable tool for detecting sick calves at an early stage. The major advantage of this system is that it flags calves with a health warning and provides an alert even before the animals start showing visible signs of illness.
Early detection of changes in activity with CowManager
And that’s precisely why herd manager Anna Schaate from Benninghoff Milchenergie in Bevern decided to use CowManager for calves too. “I tend to rely on figures, data, and facts, and that’s why I like working with CowManager’s health data for calves,” she explains, “because once calves stop drinking, you’ve got a major problem on your hands.”
At first, she thought that she wouldn’t see much difference in activity because the young calves don’t move around that much. “But I came to realize how useful CowManager is when it comes to the early detection of pneumonia.” The health warning allows her to recognize early in the day which calves are deviating from the group average in terms of activity and drinking. She then considers information on group changes, rehousing, weaning, and dehorning as this may also influence the data. If there are no such factors to consider, Schaate then examines the calves in question with an ultrasound scan of the lungs.
Early stages of respiratory disease are detected in good time
The CowManager health lists are checked three times a day. Schaate identifies calves with deviations and then examines them with her colleagues from the calf team. Depending on the diagnosis, the calves are treated with anti-inflammatory drugs or painkillers. “We’ve found CowManager shows us the animals that have pneumonia two days earlier than we would have recognized their labored breathing and general poor health,” Schaate reports. “Since we started consistently monitoring the calves using a combination of CowManager and lung scan, we’ve been able to treat the pneumonia before the symptoms become apparent.”
Working with a vet on prevention
The herd’s veterinarian, Hanna Strodthoff-Schneider, confirms the benefits of using activity monitoring for the early detection of disease: “With pneumonia in particular, it allows us to identify the affected calves at a very early stage of the disease – at a time when lung tissue is showing minimal change on the ultrasound.” She goes on to explain that as lung tissue cannot regenerate, any loss of functional tissue results in a permanent decline in lung function. Early diagnosis using an activity monitoring system can therefore help to minimize structural changes in the lungs.
“It is likely that this will also have a positive effect on lactation performance later on,” says Strodthoff-Schneider. Despite these undisputed benefits, she underlines that every dairy farm should be aiming to minimize cases of pneumonia from the outset with appropriate feeding practices as well as optimal housing and environmental conditions.
Consistent hygiene management, health monitoring, and treatment
Consistent compliance with hygiene measures and constant monitoring of housing conditions, for example with adequate ventilation, is extremely important in the prevention of calf disease. Damp conditions and draughts must be avoided,” Schaate adds. “We make sure to check the ventilation in all barns on a regular basis and install new ventilation tubes when necessary. We also shave three strips on the backs of older calves so that they can dry off more quickly.”
This combination of hygiene management, health monitoring, and early treatment has considerably improved the health of the calves on the farm. Lung scans take five to ten minutes per calf but are considered worth the time as cases of acute and chronic respiratory disease have decreased significantly. The impact on staff satisfaction and motivation is also noticeable as working with healthy animals is much more enjoyable than trying to alleviate the pain of sick animals. “If this helps us to rear more high-quality heifers that are well-prepared for the start of lactation, then it will have been worth it,” Schaate says.
Author: Angelika Sontheimer