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Ag News

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

By Department of Primary Industries - 1st July 2009 - Back to News

THE GOLDEN RULES OF CALF MANAGEMENT

Producing healthy, fully weaned calves weighing around 100 kilograms at 12 weeks of age can be a rewarding experience for good calf rearers, but is sometimes a challenge for others. 

Department of Primary Industries’ (DPI) Senior Veterinary Officer Gippsland, Sue Hides, believes that there are set of ‘golden rules’ that can help meet this challenge:

·        Remove calves from their dams (mothers) within 12 hours of birth.

·        Dip or spray the umbilical cord with an iodine solution.

·        All calves should be topped up with two litres of top quality colostrum by teat or stomach tube when removed from the calving paddock or pad. 

·        If calves have not sucked they should be fed 4 litres of top quality colostrum by teat or stomach tube.

·        Colostrum should be thick and yellow and collected at the first milking of cows following the full-term birth of their second or subsequent calf, as soon after the birth as possible.  A colostrometer can be used to check on the quality of the colostrum. 

·        Never take short cuts with colostrum management.  Time invested in good colostrum management for your new born calves will pay dividends in the longer term.  It is also the key to disease prevention in young calves and colostrum is naturally produced on the farm.

·        Shelter from wind and rain is important.  Rear your calves in clean, dry and well ventilated sheds in groups of no more than 10 calves.  Provide at least 1.5 square metres per calf for the first two to three weeks of life; and replace bedding or clean sheds as required.

·        Feed milk or colostrum to the equivalent of 10 per cent of the calf’s body weight daily.  For example, a 40 kg calf should receive 4 kg milk or colostrum, which equates to 4 litres.  Remember that feeding milk or colostrum only once each day encourages faster rumen development and reduces rearing costs while ensuring less health problems and better post-weaning performance.

·        Provide continual access to clean water and high-quality concentrates from day one.

·        Provide continual access to a palatable roughage source, such as clean straw, from day one.

·        Develop a disease action plan that includes good hygiene, good observation, isolation of sick calves, fluid replacement for scouring calves and tender loving care.

·        Ensure that calves do not come in contact with manure or effluent from adult cattle.

·        Give individual attention to each calf and make time to check at least twice daily for signs of ill thrift or sickness.

·        Minimise stresses, follow set routines, avoid overcrowding, and maintain a gentle and nurturing environment in the calf shed.

·        People rear calves, not the systems.  Don’t rear calves if you don’t enjoy it!

·        All calves, whether for slaughter or for rearing, should receive the same treatment.

For more information on calf rearing, contact your nearest DPI Animal Health officer at DPI Bairnsdale on 5152 0400, DPI Maffra on 5147 0800, DPI Ellinbank 5624 2222 or DPI Leongatha on 5662 9900; or visit the DPI website www.dpi.vic.gov.au – use search function to find topics on calf rearing.

FARMING DIARY

Journey of a science idea

The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Ellinbank invites the community to a special seminar about the journey of an idea from ‘light bulb moment’ to the creation of technology designed to help farmers measure pastures and improve profitability.

DPI Technical Officer, Ivor Awty, realised farmers could potentially be wasting thousands of dollars in supplementary feed, and what they needed was a quick and automatic device for taking the guesswork out of pasture measurement.

Mr Awty will be presenting the seminar and demonstrating how an Automatic Pasture Reader works at DPI Ellinbank Centre, 1301 Hazeldean Road on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm.

If you would like more information about future DPI Ellinbank Seminars, please call 5624 2222.

Bushfire Recovery Workshop

Topic:   Trees, Shelter Belts and Native Vegetation

When:  Saturday, July 11, 2009

Where: Labertouche Hall, Cnr Labertouche and Forest Road, Labertouche.

Time:    9:30 am to 12:30 pm.

This workshop focuses on property owners who want to learn more about planning of shelter belts, sourcing plants, planting and management, as well as funding support available. 

It will be presented by Bridget McCallum from Western Port Landcare network, Rob Waddell from Lake Wellington Landcare network and Grand Ridge Propagation.

All landholders are welcome, in particular those whose properties have been fire affected.

For more information, contact Carolyn Ferguson on 5624 2409.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com