Maternity & Calf Management
What are two principles of colostrum feeding?
1. Quality
2. Quantity
3. Cleanliness
4. Quickness
5. Evaluation
What is one thing you should consider when designing a facility to house dairy cows?
- Herd size
- Climate
- Manure management
- Cow Comfort
- Sanitation/Overall Management
Why are transition cows at an increased risk of disease?
Negative energy balance, stress, lower immune function etc.
What is somatic cell count?
Amount of somatic cells (neutrophils within the udder) within a given sample (cells/mL)
You are evaluating a dairy for prevalence of calves with scours. What are two clinical signs you will look for to identify scours?
- watery feces
- dehydration
- lethargy
List the four main parts of a calf diet
1. Milk or milk replacer
2. Starter grain
3. Water
4. Forage
What housing type is normally found on dairies with <100 cows?
Tie stall barns
Name a disease that is common in transition cows.
- Ketosis
- Acidosis
What are the two classifications of mastitic pathogens? Provide an example from each classification
- Environmental (coliforms, environmental strep, pseudomonas, enterococcus)
- Contaigious (staph aureus, mycoplasma spp., strep agalactiae)
You're consulting on a farm that has an abnormal amount of calves with scours and BRD what testing would you adivise them to do to determine why they are expercing high illness rates.
- BRIX for colostrum
- STP
- Cultring for colostrum cleanliness
What is the difference between limit feeding and accelerated feeding? Include % of BW as total solids in answer.
- Limit feeding; feeding lower amount of milk early in life, thought to increase starter grain intake, total solids fed at 1-1.25% of BW
- Accelerated feeding; feeding more milk early in life, total solids fed at 1.5% of BW during the first week of life, then 2% of BW from second week of life until weaning
Describe two goals in stall design aimed at enhancing cow comfort.
- Has no hazards that may result in injury
- Allows for normal resting, standing, and lying straight
Name two things that may cause subacute or acute rumination acidosis in transition cows.
- Inadequate transition ration
- Ration too low in fiber or too high in fermentable carbohydrates
- Slug feeding
Explain the different protocols for treating Gram+ vs Gram- mastitis.
- Gram- -- historically don't treat -> high rate of spontaneous cures.
A producer is interested in improving their maternity pens what are some goals/guidlines you would recommend they follow?
- Lower stocking density (appropriate room for each cow to isolate/feel comfortable)
- Frequent/appropriate pen cleaning
What are some ways to decrease calves' exposure to pathogens?
- Spend less time in the calving pens.
- Less contact with affected calves.
- Clean and sufficient bedding, adequate ventilation, dry facilities.
- Correct stocking density.
Give an example of cow behavior related to housing and comfort and what that behovior indicates/what caused that behavior.
- Idle standing - failed attempts at lying
- Perching - uncomfortable beds, obstructions, poor neck rail placement.
- Diagonal standing and lying - inadequate space for standing, lying, or lunging, obstructions.
- Lying backwards - to avoid frustrating features (solid fronts, low neck-rails)
- Alternate occupancy - understocked pens, narrow stalls
- Kneeling cow syndrome - improper trainer placement or for reaching for feed
- Caudal licking - good indicator of good traction
Describe Ketosis, and what causes it.
- Elevated serum ketone body concentrations
- Post calving, there is a reduced energy intake + increased energy needs -> cow uses fat stores to make up the difference -> increased ketones in the blood.
Describe the control strategies for contagious mastitis.
- Good milking routine (udder hygiene and pre/post dip)
- Milk cows with mastitis separately
- Dry cow therapy
- Cull chronically infected cows.
During a farm visit, many cows exhibit behaviors indicating discomfort, such as perching or lying backwards. What factors would you assess to determine the cause?
- stall size (bed length/width)
- sufficient bedding
- Frustrating features (walls/neck rails)
Describe the most common pathogenesis of pneumonia in preweaned dairy calves?
Stressors weaken the immune system, which leads to bacteria that normally reside in the upper respiratory tract to colonize the lung, inflammation occurs in the lung and pneumonia occurs
What are the diseases related to cow comfort? List 2-3
Lameness
hock injuries - standing/lying with an inadequate amount of bedding
neck injuries
mastitis - lying right after milking/improper hygiene.
Explain what the DCAD diet is, what disease it prevents, and the mechanism of action to prevent this disease.
- Negative DCAD prevents milk fever (hypocalcemia)
- The DCAD diet is a dietary cation/anion difference that slightly acidifies the diet. This lowers the pH and increases Parathyroid hormone (PTH) activity. PTH acts on the bones to increase calcium mobilization in the kidneys to decrease Ca loss, which activates vitamin D to act in the intestine to increase Ca absorption. Therefore, blood calcium increases to normal levels.
Describe the control strategies for environmental mastitis.
- Clean, dry environment for lactating and non-lactating cows.
- A good milking routine.
- There are some vaccines available.
A farm has had high somatic cell counts in their milk what are a couple of recomendations would you give them to improve their milk quality?
- milking routine (pre/post dip, forestripping) for clinical mastitis.
- sperate milking for cows with mastitis.
- Feeding after milking to keep cows standing
- clean milking equipment etc.