Volume 9, No. 9
BUY THE BABY CALF
By Russ Schnepper, D. V. M.
Calf raisers who, receive the calf the day it is born, have the best results. There are several reasons for this.
1. The calf is a creature of habit and absolutely hates change. If the calf is held in multiple sites and moved frequently, just as it adjusts to its surroundings you move it. This creates a stress. The calf that is immediately placed in the environment where it will remain for the first month of its life does the best.
2. The newborn calf has a functioning adrenal gland. But at day eight it stops working and does not function again until the calf is 28 days old. So between eight and twenty eight days of age the calf is not able to adapt to stress as it should. We have moved calves less than a week of age all the way across the country with less than a 10% death loss and if we moved two to three week old calves our death loss would be 15% or more. Our rule is to buy a calf that is less than a week or more than a month of age.
3. Calves pick up many pathogens in the maternity area or group pens on the farm prior to moving to the calf facility. The longer the calf is on the dairy the more pathogens it acquires.
4. Calves use the buddy system. They pair up emotionally and help each other thru the adjusting phases. Each time the calf is moved and its partner is left behind, another stress is produced. When calves are sorted and moved into groups, try your best to do a good job of sizing up the groups and then leave them together. (Veal calves are being group fed for the last half of the feeding period and the same rules apply.) Every time a new group is formed, the calves reestablish the peck order and another stress occurs. If you have ever mixed pigs, you know how they fight and by the end of two hours every pig in the pen knows where he fits. Calves go thru the same emotionally, without as much fighting, but just as much damaging stress.
I have recommended vaccinating with a modified live virus vaccine each time the calf is moved. The MLV vaccine causes the calf's own immune system to produce interferon by the day after vaccinating. The interferon effect lasts for three to four days and assists the calf thru the stressful period. Now that we have Immunoboost we use an injection of Immunoboost at these times of stress. Immunoboost causes the calf's own immune system to produce interferons that are measurable within two hours of injection and the effect lasts for seven days. The levels of interferon are many times higher than achieved by the MLV vaccine.
Nutrition is important. Selenium and Vitamin E are very necessary for the immune system to respond to anything. Whole milk is nearly void of selenium.
Get the calf as soon as possible after birth and place it in a facility where it will remain for at least 30 days. Inject it with Immunoboost and Selenium with Vitamin E.
Contact information for ordering information and questions about our products:
Schnepper International, Inc.
3162 County B, Platteville, WI 53818
608-348-6141, Fax: 608-348-6146
www.calfdoctor.com email: rschnep@mhtc.net