The Dreaded Calf Scour

The Dreaded Calf Scour Calf scour is well recognised as the number one reason for mortality in newborns and young calves in the first few weeks of life. With calving season in full swing, one disease which every farmer dreads is calf diarrhoea or scour, writes Tommy Heffernan, Vet. On most farms the risk is lower as calving commences, but the risk increases with time. Now is a good time to put measures in place to reduce the risk. What Causes Calf Scour? So calf scour occurs when viruses, parasites and/or bacteria damage the gut wall. This decreases the animal’s ability to absorb fluids and nutrients. As it progresses it can potentially lead to severe dehydration and secondary problems with septicaemias. Early treatment and intervention usually gets the best results. The main causes of scours in Irish farms are: 1. Viral scours rotavirus coronavirus. 2. Parasites cryptosporidium/coccidiosis. 3. Bacterial E coli/salmonella. There are other potential causes, but the ones mentioned above are by far the most common agents we isolate. The age affected can vary but generally it is recognised that E coli affects calves between one and five days old, and coccidiosis affects calves older than three weeks. The others can generally occur between five and 21 days. SOP Having a simple standard operating procedure (SOP) for scouring calves can be very useful. 1. Remove from the calf pen to sick pen. Isolating these cases allows for more intensive treatment and also reduces the risk of spread to healthy calves. 2. Rehydration revolutionised human medicine when it was discovered. It also is massively important to the outcome of treating calf scours. Early intervention with 2 litre feeds x 2 daily separate to milk feeds works well. Carefully chose your rehydration solution as quality does vary. If you are not confident using a stomach tube, get your vet to show you how to tube calves correctly. 3. Continue to feed milk or keep the calf on the cow. Starvation can be detrimental to treatment outcome and milk feeding allows the gut to heal quicker. Oral rehydration should be carried out at times in between milk feeds. It is advised to call the vet when the calf has not been drinking for two or more feeds, is down/weak, has sunken eyes and has a temperature above 39.5°C or below 38°C. Your own vet is best placed to advice on antibiotic treatment for individual cases. It is worth noting that giving oral antibiotics to calves with viral scours or crypto has no benefit and is not recommended. Preventing Further Cases When you know what is causing the scour, you can focus on preventing further cases. The reason calf scour is an issue later in the calving season is that infection pressure builds. This is where hygiene is reduced through increased numbers of newborns and calves, but more importantly the bugs that cause scour build to high levels in the environment. If viral scours are isolated, it is important to focus on colostrum and hygiene. Individual calf pens definitely help for the first seven to 14 days and they must

be kept clean and dry. All feeding equipment should be thoroughly cleaned as to minimise spread. My advice is equipment should be cleaned daily and disinfected at least twice weekly. This might seem like extra labour, but pales in comparison to the work and heartache scouring causes. Healthy calves should not be stomach-tubed with a tube used to treat sick calves. There is the option of vaccinating cows with a scour vaccine two to three weeks out from calving if viral scours such as rota/corona are isolated. This works well when colostrum management is excellent. Crypto Control We are now seeing more issues than ever with cryptosporidium. It now seems to be a primary agent meaning it can cause scour on its own and not just in conjunction with viral agents. Hygiene, I have found, is the most critical area to work on when crypto is diagnosed. There are several products on the market for crypto control and again talk to your vet about which one to use. It is worth mentioning the original source can be from the dam’s faeces, making calving area hygiene of the utmost importance. My advice is sit down with your vet and draw up a plan to minimise your risk and maximise the calf health on your farm. - Farmers Journal, 8th February, 2016.

Breaking the 1,000 Cow Barrier

Dairy pioneer Tom Browne will reach another first this spring when he calves down over 1,000 cows

It's a milestone for the Irish dairy industry, and the culmination of a lifetime's work and dreams. This spring Tom Browne's visions have come true as he calves down 1,046 cows on his Greenhills farm in east Cork. "In a way it just creeps up on you," laughs the ever-genial Tom.

"Some 15 years ago when we first installed a 60 unit rotary parlour we were milking 300 cows. That moved to 500, then 600, and 700, and last year we milked 880. But it has always been dependent on getting more land, and we were lucky last autumn to lease another 100ac. That opened the way for us to get to the 1,000 cow mark," he explains.

Ironically, the set-up looks much like any other 200-300 cow operation when you pull into the yard on an exposed ridge of dry land between Youghal and Tallow on the Cork-Waterford border. And before you are let near the sheds, the Browne's innate hospitality has one ensconced in their modest kitchen, cup of tea in hand.

A multi-camera screen hangs over the kitchen table, complete with 16 different camera angles ranging from the milking parlour to the 300 cubicle cow-sheds and straw-bedded calving pens.

It's partly to keep an eye on things, and partly for a bit of security around the place too," volunteers Tom's son, Simon Browne.

The 32-year-old was relatively a late-comer to the farm, having first trained and worked for three years as an accountant with Cork-based firm FDC.

"I was just one exam short of being fully qualified, but when dad started talking about selling the business, I decided that I had to give it a go. It was only when I started here fulltime that I realised how much happier I was being out of the office," says Simon.

With his book-keeping background, you would be forgiven for thinking that Simon would spend most of his time in the office, looking after the administration of such a large operation.

But the opposite is the case, with the youngest of the Browne boys avoiding the indoors for the majority of the working week.

The operation appears to be highly efficient. Profit monitor costs are around 20c/l, and with just seven full-time staff, including Browne Snr and Jnr, it means that there are close to 150 cows per labour unit.

Tom has no doubts that the 60 unit Dairymaster rotary parlour was the right choice for herd when it was installed in 2001. Yet, it still takes 18 man-hours per day to milk the cows.

"It took about three hours to milk the 880 cows last year, and that was with three lads. One guy is cupping, another is bringing the cows in, and another is making sure that they get away ok. But it'll be closer to 3.5hrs with the 1,000 cows," admits Simon.

The herd is 100pc spring calving, with 74pc due to calve within six weeks. This is an average of more than 18 cows a day, but Tom says that up to 50 can calve per day when they are at full tilt.

"We will have a person watching and dealing with calving cows 24 hours a day from now on - it's the only way to deal with the volumes," he says.

Average EBI is €143, and the herd is averaging 6,200 litres per cow on 600kg of meal, which translates into an impressive 494kg of milk solids.

"We're going to wait for another two or three years to see where crossbreeding will be," says Tom. "I've been reluctant to go down the route, because it takes a long time to get back to where you started if you ever decide that cross-breeding isn't for you. I also think that most of the fertility problems that existed in the Friesian breed have been bred out again."

Simon chips in. "I'd also be wary of results comparing the average performance of crossbred cows, because they tend to be in the better managed herds, which is compared to the national average."

The cows were all housed when I visited two weeks ago, but everything both inside and outside the sheds was neat and tidy.

I realised part of the reason why the yard layout appears so compact is that one shed is literally built into a rock wall on the side of a hill.

It is only when you get outside to the milking platform that you start to get a sense of the scale of the operation.

The 6m wide laneway stretches off to the horizon, while a 10t excavator rumbles away in one of the paddocks.

"We're trying out covering the laneways with cheap woodchip. We did a section last year and you could actually see the cows move faster over it. With the furthest paddocks 1.8km away, lameness is one of the biggest challenges that we are facing," explains Simon.

This is despite the fact that the Brownes already have some flexibility built into their system to accommodate their lame or sick cows.

"We'll run three separate mobs this year, with 400 in two along with another of about 200. That's where any cow with issues goes, and they'll tend to walk shorter distances. The 400 limit on the other groups is purely a function of the size of the collecting yard at the parlour," he adds.

The stocking rate on the milking platform is high at 3.8cows/ha, but the entire 1,200ac being farmed is also small relative to the 1,046 cows being milked.

Maize silage

"We have travelled up to 15 miles away to get land, and ended up putting it into maize silage just to minimise the travel to and from it," says Simon.

Out behind the cow sheds are towering pits of silage and chopped straw.

"Yeah, we pitted about 80ac of straw this year, harvested the exact same way as the grass, with a double-chop. We feed a lot of straw here every year - up to 5kg/hd for cows that are over conditioned.

"It's just mixed with silage and dry-cow minerals and fed out with a diet feeder.

"We also bring a little meal into the diet just before they calve to ease the transition over," says Simon.

Even though the silage quality tested well at 71DMD and 15pc protein, the Brownes found that the cows haven't taken to it as well as silages of similar quality in previous years.

Were they tempted to milk on last autumn with the quotas gone for the first time in a generation?

"Yes and no. We would only have had 50-100 cows milking on, so it was hardly worth it. Plus, it's important for us to stop to give everybody a break and time to socialise," says Tom.

One of the biggest challenges for staff is getting used to the numbers.

"There's bad days on every farm, but a bad day here can be like a young fella's worst nightmare," says Tom.

"But it's all down to the numbers. If a 100 cow herd loses two or three cows every year with downers and so on, that's going to be 20 or 30 here.

"You've just got to be able to handle the fact that every mistake and misfortune is going to be amplified."

How Tom Browne built up his herd

Many readers will be wondering how an Irish farmer that sold his quota in the 1980s is preparing to calve over 1,000 cows this spring, less than a year after quotas have ended.

"We were actually milking 200 cows when the quotas came in 1983, but I decided to get out of milking cows shortly afterwards because I felt there would be more scope for growth in the arable sector where we were already active," explains Tom Browne.

"But when the Mulder case was taken and won in Europe, I took the opportunity to get back into cows.

"That was in the early 1990s, and we started back with 150 cows. But at the same time I was farming a big acreage of tillage and beet through rented land.

"I got two other lucky breaks under the EU's CAP regime. The first was the compensation that was paid to farmers when the sugar beet industry was closed down. I was lucky enough to be able to plough that money into a profitable dairy system.

Stacking

"The stacking of the payments also allowed me to pull back on the amount of rented land that I was forking out for, and making very little on. Instead, I was able to concentrate my efforts and money on building up the dairy enterprise here.

"Throughout all those years I bought and leased quota whenever I could. I suppose it all mounts up over time."

Darragh McCullough, Indo Farming.

Make Farm Safety Your New Year’s Resolution

Make Farm Safety Your New Year’s Resolution

If there is one thing every farmer should do for 2016 is promise themselves and their families that they will think farm safety this year.

Putting farming safely to the top of your New Year’s resolution list isn’t good enough – things on lists have a habit of staying there and never actually being done. Last year 17 people died in farming-related accidents in 2015. It’s a significantly lower number than 2014, but it’s still too high.

The Minister must be congratulated in introducing a number of measures through TAMS, which are aimed directly at improving infrastructure and safety on farms. It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough.

The attitude that ‘it won’t happen to me’ or, worse still, not thinking about farm safety at all must change. Until people realise that it can and might happen to them, avoidable farm accidents and deaths will continue to blight Irish farming.

The Health and Safety Authority has run a number of campaigns over the years, including some harrowing pictures of people who have escaped with their lives but lost limbs through farming accidents. This level of ‘in your face’ messaging needs to continue.

Everyone who goes onto a farm, whether they are working on it or not, whatever age they are, must be made aware of the stark dangers on every farm yard. Teagasc reminds us again this year that January is a time of increased risk on farms.

Machinery and livestock are too often to blame for farm accidents and deaths. And, in many cases, these incidents could be avoided if simple steps were taken.

For 2016, don’t leave it until a farm accident affects you, your family or your neighbour, – now is the time to improve the farm safety standards on the farm.

This year should be a year of change on farms, a year when farm safety is to the forefront of everyone’s mind.

What is the Biggest Hidden Cost of Expansion? Disease.

What is the Biggest Hidden Cost of Expansion? Disease.

Just ask a sample of dairy farmers that have been through the process. They plan for new parlours, roadways, sheds, stock, labour, but most will rarely, if ever, plan for the cost of a disease outbreak.

And yet, so often it happens either in the form of mastitis, salmonella, cryptosporidia, the list is long and growing.

That's what makes the next eight weeks crucial on dairy farms as calving is about to commence. This is the danger time for disease.

"I've seen farms in recent years where 40pc of calves are affected by one disease alone - typically something like cryptosporidia, that would result in 10pc mortality rates, with maybe double that surviving, but chronically affected for life," says Trim-based vet, Frank O'Sullivan.

He says that farmers have got to start taking a really business-like approach to disease.

"Most of our clients don't really use us, only as fire-brigade services to come out and treat sick cases. Instead, they should sit down with us and plan out a strategy for the year, looking at three key areas: nutrition, hygiene, and managing what I call the biggies - the diseases that are going to be the most important on your farm.

"If we look at the last area first. We rank and manage all diseases on the basis of risk. The degree of risk is determined by two factors: the probability of an outbreak occurring; and the consequences or costs of an outbreak.”

"For example, the risk of leptospirosis affecting a herd is very high, so pretty much everybody vaccinates against it. On the other hand the probability of salmonella outbreak might be low, especially in a settled, closed herd, but even if there is only a small risk of it getting in, the consequences are very high because it can wipe out a crop of calves and end up taking down some of your cows too with diarrhoea and abortion.

"That's why I usually include it in what I call the six 'biggies' - the diseases you've got to be guarding yourself against. In order of importance, they are leptospirosis, BVD, IBR, salmonella, neospora and Johnes disease. These six certainly are manageable and indeed most you can vaccinate against, with a more complex programme required to tackle Johnes. Increasing herd size, especially through buying in stock will certainly increase these disease challenges. In general, you are better off to expand from within your own herd by breeding extra heifers. Don't under- estimate the cost of carrying out a comprehensive disease prevention programme including an appropriate vaccination regime.

"Salmonella alone will cost you at least €7/cow. Other costs may include extra bedding, labour or even spending money altering sheds.

"That's just the cows. In the case of calves, you're dealing with two main issues - pneumonia and scour. The latter is usually caused by rota virus, cryptosporidia, or E coli. Most of these are related to the hygiene of facilities. This is the second major area for farmers to plan in advance of the hectic period.

"The old thing of letting bedding build up in calving pens before cleaning it out is not really the done thing anymore. You should be able to kneel down anywhere in the calving pen in your good clothes, and get up afterwards and head off to the match without needing to change.

"To ensure that happens routinely takes planning. You need protocols for colostrum, feeding and bedding calves. Everyone involved should understand the standard required, and that enough time is factored in to make it happen.

"But there are other structural things that you also need to have right before calving begins. For example, does your cubicle house have enough ventilation to ensure that cubicles remain dry?

"There are the other classics that catch guys out with expanding herds such as having enough calving pens. The rule of thumb is that you need a calving box for every 15 cows.

"You also need to have adequate feeding space. So it's no good just tacking on extra cubicles without providing extra feed-rail area, which brings me on to the last area that is key to controlling disease, which is nutrition.

"You really need to maximise the drymatter intake of dry cows, not only in the last month of her pregnancy but also in the hours around calving to avoid her spiralling into a energy deficit as soon as she calves.

"So the old practice of piling up feed for the bank holiday weekend in front of the dry cow that's about to calf just doesn't cut it. In fact, ideally you should be putting fresh feed and water in front of the cow every 12 hours, but every 24 hours at a minimum. If this is too big an ask, then you should look at your system now to see what you can change in order to make that happen, routinely. That's what good system planning is all about.

"Concerns about the calf getting too big if the cow is too well fed during the last month are irrelevant. The size of the calf was determined eight months earlier by the bull used when the cow was put in calf.

"Sure, overfeeding can be an issue, especially if the silage quality is very high. The target should be to have the body condition of the cow at 3-3.25 at this stage. So sometimes the diet will need to be diluted with lower energy roughage like straw, but don't short-change the cow on essential minerals and vitamins, because this is essential in preventing diseases such as milk fever.

"Planning for prevention of disease now is a key activity on dairy farms, especially where there has been expansion. Not only will it save you money but, perhaps more importantly, it give you peace of mind," he said.

Frank O'Sullivan is a partner with Pat Farrelly and Partners, and a member of Veterinary Ireland. - Irish Independent Farming Section

Don’t Get Caught on the Hop at Calving Time with These Top Tips

Calving is just around the corner and winter is the ideal time to prepare the calving and calf-rearing areas well in advance of the start of calving, according to Teagasc.

Cleaning out such houses now allows them time to dry out and this helps to break any carry over of infection from one year to the next, it states.

It advises to make sure that handling gates are working properly – there’s still time to repair them if necessary.

One of the unforeseen consequences of using higher fertility sub-index AI sires is shorter gestation lengths, according to Teagasc.

Some cows are now calving at around the 270-day mark instead of the more traditional 280 days and it states that it makes a big difference.

Teagasc states that many farmers have been ‘caught on the hop’ with the arrival of such early born calves.

Here’s a checklist of the tools of the calving trade that need to be readied before calving starts:

• ·         Calving jack – including a pair of foot ropes in proper working order.
• ·         Iodine navel disinfectant – you’ll need around 10-15ml per navel.
• ·         Stomach tube – check that the bag is not leaking and the tube itself isn’t chewed, as this can cause oesophageal damage.
• ·         Hydrated lime – ensure that your supply is adequate to disinfect the calving areas after calves have been removed.
• ·         Teats – make sure that the calf feeder teats aren’t perished – order spares now if they are.

Dairy markets to improve gradually in 2016

A gradual improvement in dairy market conditions in 2016 is expected once global stocks begin to clear, Lakeland Dairies CEO Michael Hanley has said.

He made the comment in his Christmas and New Year message to milk producers.

“Lakeland Dairies has continued to put in the groundwork required to ensure long term sustainability and continuing growth and development in an increasingly globalised and often volatile dairy marketplace.

“This includes investments in new milk processing capacity, larger scale and an efficiency and cost reduction programme across all operations,” he said.

Hanley said that dairy markets have been challenging due to several factors coming into play at the same time.

“This has included the abolition of the EU quota system and increased production by European farmers, the Russian ban on EU dairy products and a global oversupply from dairy producing countries.

“The major dairy importers and traders across every continent have taken advantage of lower prices to increase their stock of dairy products over the past year and this will take some time to wash through the system.

Overall we anticipate that there will be a gradual improvement in market conditions once global stocks begin to clear.

Happy New Year to all our Customers!