Use of pasteurized and acidified milk in calves nutrition

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Use of pasteurized or acidified or combined pasteurized and acidified milk in calf nutrition nowadays becomes more and more popular to prevent gastrointestinal health issues in young calves. Health issues connected to the gastrointestinal tract mostly manifest by diarrhoea, for which treatment protocols often include antibiotic usage.

One option to improve the gastrointestinal health status and reduce the necessity of antibiotic usage is feeding calves with free access to pasteurized and acidified milk. In general milk is a very favourable substance for bacterial growth. To reduce the active bacterial contamination in milk the milk can be pasteurised at 64 degrees C for 30 minutes. After it is important to cool down the pasteurised milk to 10 – 15 degrees C. To prevent diseases of the digestive tract, only pasteurized milk should be fed. But in order to provide calves with an ad libitum milk feeding system, it is advisable that pasteurized milk is additionally acidified. The low pH value of milk slows down the growth of bacteria and the acidified milk can be kept in feeders for calves for longer periods. Milk acidifiers mostly consist of organic acids which are added to pasteurised and cooled milk. Pasteurised and acidified milk can be poured in individual buckets with rubber teats in individual calf housing systems. Use of a milk taxi eases the milk distribution. Automated milk feeders can also be used in group keeping systems. The pasteurization and lowering the pH of milk controls bacterial growth and allows larger quantities of milk to be provided for ad libitum feeding of calves and provides physiological needs, promotes its health status and reduces the need for treatment with antibiotics.

Health Benefits of Monitoring Rumination

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It is now common for neckcollars and eartags to measure rumination, as well as activity, in automatic heat detection systems. However there is a greater benefit in the use of rumination data as an early warning health alert. Not only are cows monitored 24 hours a day and alerts sent to the stockman when a problem arises – allowing time to be focused on animals that need attention – but a reduction in rumination rate is an earlier symptom than the more obvious signs of sickness that are traditionally seen. This early diagnosis leads to a wider range of potential treatments, many curative averting the need of antibiotic use, making the symptoms less severe and allowing a much quicker recovery.

For example, at the South West Dairy Development Centre, the Smartbow eartag identified reduced rumination at 3 days post calving, prompting a vet diagnosis of a dilated abomasum – the first stage of a DA. Appropriate treatment avoided the need for an operation – and the corresponding antibiotic use – and resulted in a quickly recovered cow.

Similarly monitoring rumination can identify early stages of ketosis, acidosis, mastitis and even the time of calving. Monitoring rumination at a herd/ group can identify Sub Acute Ruminal Acidosis, suboptimal dry cow transition diets, and even poor forage quality.

Remotely monitoring rumination rate can also indicate if a treatment has been successful. Two technologies – Cow Manager and SmaXtec (a rumen bolus) also include temperature in the health alert algorithm.

Monitoring rumination can save time, improve animal health, reduce stress, improve treatment outcomes, increase production and reduce antibiotic use.

Early Mastitis Detection in Robotic Milkers Reduces Antibiotic Use

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It is usual to identify mastitis on farm by observing clots, or a raised temperature and hard quarter. Often somatic cellcounts are taken, but this is often historic information after laboratory analysis , and the data is an average of all 4 quarters of the cow.

Robotic milkers, such as the GEA monobox used at the SW dairy Development Centre, measure milk conductivity, temperature and colour from each quarter. (There is now also an option to install quarter somatic cellcount detection). Data is collected at each milking, and is analysed by comparing previous data from the same cow, alerting when there is a significant change in a specific quarter. This allows a much earlier diagnosis af mastitis, which gives allows for non antibiotic treatments – such as the application of udder linament, and increasing the frequency of milking – to effect a self-cure. If, in extreme cases, it is decided that the best course of action is to use intramammery antibiotics, the earlier detection can lead to higher cure rates.

This system is much more accurate as it takes quarter information, and algorithms compare to results from the individual cow, rather than generic averages. The real-time nature of the data means diagnosis is earlier which in turn leads to a reduction in antibiotic use, both from reducing the number of cows that need antibiotisc, and having better cure rates in those that do. There is also a finacial benefit with more milk per cow being sold off farm ( less “treated” milk, and less milk reduction due to sick cows)

Artificial Calf Feeding for Good Health

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Good nutrition is key to having healthy calves that grow into healthy adult cattle. Calves are born without rumen function – they rely on milk feeds to provide nutrients and energy while solid feed (concentrates and forage) help them gradually develop into a ruminant.  

When feeding young calves: 

  1. Feed at least two milk meals per day until at least 28 days of age. Before calves are 1 month old, their rumen is not sufficiently developed to digest solid feed well enough to constitute a meal.  
  2. Feed calf milk replacer (CMR) or pasteurized saleable whole milk to avoid transfer of infectious disease to calves. Do not feed non-saleable waste milk – milk from cows treated with antibiotics contains antibiotic residues. Feeding this contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance and harms the friendly bacteria in the calf’s gut, causing diarrhoea. 
  3. Feed at least 750g milk solids per day for the first 4 weeks. This will ensure calves have the energy and nutrients to grow, keep warm, and support their immune function. Feed higher quantities if you are aiming for growth rates of 0.7-0.8 kg/day or more. 
  4. Keep milk-feeding consistent: feed a set amount of milk at a set temperature, at a set time. Make any necessary changes gradually. 
  5. Ensure milk feeding equipment is clean. Wash it with hot water and detergent between every feed to avoid cross-contamination and bacterial build-up.  
  6. From a few days of age, offer small amounts of solid feed (concentrates and forage e.g. chopped straw) so that calves can eat small amounts to develop their rumen. Gradually increase this provision of solid feed. Wean calves when they eat 1kg of concentrate per day for 3-4 days, at approximately 6 weeks of age. 
  7. Ensure calves have access to clean, fresh water at all times. 

Outdoor Autumn Calving System on a UK dairy farm

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The majority of UK dairy cows have access to pasture for a portion of the year. This is governed by the weather and ground conditions. Here we hear why calving outdoors for a UK dairy farmer works for their Autumn block calving system.

Calving outdoors on well managed pasture works for this farming family – they like the cows to be out in the fresh air and it fits in with the rest of their farm management. The near to calving cows are bought in from the calving field once a day for an extra feed and the grass is grown slightly longer than the other grazing fields to provide more fibre in the calving cow diet. This alleviates any metabolic issues, such as milk fever associated with a lack of fibre in the diet.  The farmers also make sure the cows get a fresh patch of grass every day and where they laid the day before is fenced off. This helps keep the cows clean and avoids any build-up of bugs that could cause mastitis around calving. The mastitis rate is ~13% for this herd and they have very low rates of lameness (~6/100 cases per year). They also find calving outdoors is cheaper as there is no need for bedding material and further cleaning. In winter, all the cows are bought in due to poor weather conditions. To optimise cow comfort, soft mattresses are used in the cubicle sheds and there is plenty of space so that every cow can lay down at once. When the cows are grazing, they come in for milking at their own pace and are foot bathed daily with Formalin. These are key factors in preventing lame cows and reducing the need for antibiotics for this farm.   

Disease management on a dairy farm: Testing, Vaccinating, Culling, and Keeping a Closed Herd

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Managing and preventing disease on a dairy farm is a continuous effort. A UK farmer shares his key strategies for optimizing his herd’s health in this video Optimising herd health – Managing disease  

The first key measure is to run a closed herd – no cattle are brought onto the farm, not even bulls. This is even more important in this part of England due to endemic Bovine Tuberculosis (TB). Using farm software, the farmer can mark out cows that have had an Inconclusive Result (IR) for TB and ensure they are not bred from and do not stay on the farm long, potentially spreading disease.  

Leptospirosis – a zoonotic disease that can infect humans – has also been an issue in the past so all adult cows and heifers are vaccinated for this every February before turnout. Another infectious disease that affects many dairy farms in Europe is Bovine Viral Diarrhoea virus (BVD). After 2 years of BVD testing calves through the Tag and Test system and blood testing heifers, this farm is now on the national BVD eradication scheme and registered as free from BVD but continuously monitoring via bulk milk tank tests.  They do not vaccinate against BVD currently, but care is taken to keep a barrier between their cattle and neighboring cattle due to BVD outbreaks on neighboring farms. The final disease that this farmer is acting upon is Johnes. After a recent clinical case (tip of the iceberg!), this farm has been more vigilant to Johnes and test the whole herd twice yearly. Affected cows are culled out but are often the poor performing animals anyway showing more lameness, high cell counts or poor fertility. 

Antibiotic use monitoring and benchmarking

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Measuring and monitoring antibiotic use has proven very helpful for one dairy farmer in the UK as seen in this video Mastitis – Monitoring prudent use of Antibiotics  

As part of a major retailer producer pool, this farmer’s milk buyer collected and benchmarked farm antibiotic usage against other dairy farmers in order to drive progress and help farmers see where improvements could be made. This was against a backdrop of national antibiotic reduction targets set by the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance targets task force. This farm’s antibiotic use has been consistently below the national average and they completely eliminated the use of Critically Important Antibiotics as part of a farmer-led research project with the University of Bristol.  

The research project led by Dr Lisa Morgans encouraged farmers to learn from one another at regular farm workshops about practical ways they could improve animal health to reduce the need for antibiotics.  Medicine data was shared and each participant hosted their group twice on their farm for a farm walk and facilitated discussion. This helped farmers share knowledge and create practical solutions to improve animal health and welfare bespoke to their farms.  

Mastitis reduction in an indoor-housed herd (use of sand beds)

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Mastitis is one of the leading causes of antibiotic use on UK dairy farms. A high yielding herd housed all-year-round has reduced their mastitis rate to 13% through a series of measures, as seen in this video.

These include installing an Automatic Dipping and Flushing (ADF) system for the teat clusters, swapping from straw bedding in cubicles to sand and changing their pre-dipping routine to using an iodine-based dip and paper towels. 

This has resulted in a drop in environmental mastitis caused by E. coli and Strep. uberis. These types of bugs thrive in dirty bedding, which is now less of a problem for this farm since they made the change to sand. Bugs in the environment can cause mastitis when pre-dipping routines are poor, so attention to effective cleaning of teats before milking is key. The ADF system ensures the spread of bugs through the milking equipment is also minimized.  

Not only has a lower mastitis rate meant reduced antibiotic treatments, which has also saved the farm money, but the farmers have also eliminated the use of Critically Important Antibiotics (CIA). The CIA were often used for mastitis cases and now the farmers find there is less need for them. The farmers also found taking part in a farmer-led research project with the University of Bristol and being benchmarked against other farms in their producer pool very helpful in learning which products were CIA and focusing on specific changes to help prevent disease.  

Preventing and treating respiratory disease in calves

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Respiratory disease is a common problem in calves and is usually associated with housing and the calves’ ability to fight disease. Basic preventive principles are that calves should be kept clean, dry, warm and receive plenty of good quality colostrum straight away. 

Calf housing must have appropriate drainage – 1 in 20 slope to drain urine away from beds. It should be protocol to remove wet, soiled bedding and replace with fresh, dry bedding. Reducing stocking density can also reduce dirt build up and disease pressure. 

Air quality and adequate ventilation is key to prevent respiratory disease. Calf accommodation should have a low level of air movement (0.2 m/s) so calves do not get cold but enough to replace stale, contaminated air within the shed with fresh air from outside. Adding spaced cladding to walls to provide greater airflow is one solution, or mechanical ventilation is another option, as seen in this video Designing buildings to improve calf health  

This farmer was very pleased with the positive-pressure ventilation tube installed in her purpose-built calf shed, which removed stale air, helped reduce levels of pneumonia, subsequent treatments and mortality. 

Newborn calves will feel cold below 10°C. It is important to provide calves with enough bedding to be able to nest in and it is worth considering calf jackets as seen here Optimising calf health – Managing respiratory disease . 

If calves receive enough colostrum at birth, many are able to fight off mild viral infections themselves. Some might develop a fever and go off their feed; in these cases, it is recommended treating with anti-inflammatories so calves continue feeding. If cases worsen or do not respond within 24-48hrs, a discussion with your vet about antibiotic treatment may be necessary. 

Preventing and treating diarrhoea (caused by rotavirus/coronavirus/cryptosporidium) in pre-weaned calves

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‘Prevention is better than cure’ for diarrhoea. This involves ensuring optimal hygiene at calving and in calf accommodation, regularly removing soiled bedding and steam cleaning, disinfecting and leaving calf pens empty, dry and in sunlight to rest between individuals/batches of calves. It is also important to clean feeding equipment with hot water and detergent between each feed. Depending on the bugs present on a farm, it is worth considering vaccination in adult cows to prevent the transmission of diseases like rotavirus to calves. 

When calves have diarrhoea, it is crucial to keep them hydrated and fed, as demonstrated in this video Optimising calf health – Managing Cryptosporidosis  

 

This farmer continues to feed milk as this provides the calf with energy, which supports their immune system in fighting disease. They also emphasize the importance of providing oral rehydration solutions to prevent dehydration, which can be purchased or a homemade solution can be used. This farmer combines glucose, salt, bicarbonate of soda, and a small amount of potassium chloride in a solution to provide calves with the necessary electrolytes when dehydrated. The imbalance in electrolytes caused by fluid loss from diarrhoea also causes acidosis, so the farmer provides a couple of tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda in the milk feeds to help combat this. 

Use of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) helps to reduce fever and symptoms caused by inflammation so that calves feel better and continue to drink. Taking faecal samples to test for what is causing the diarrhoea so that the most effective treatment can be selected is key. These principles have led to this farmer reducing their calf mortality from 8% to zero and only using antimicrobials occasionally.