Improved calf health and growth rates at new Goslington shed

The family began housing their calves in a new shed in December 2022 – an investment they made to help improve calf health and production compared to the old shed which had poor ventilation and drainage. This led to high levels of pneumonia, with almost half of the calves being treated for the condition each year.

However, when calves were housed in the new shed, surprisingly, pneumonia was still present, affecting 8-10% of the herd. This led to further investigation with their vet Neil Fox from the Clyde Vet Group.

Calves are now a lot healthier in the new shed

Calf health audit

In April this year, Mr Fox undertook an audit using Rispaudit® - an app developed for vets by Zoetis to help facilitate on-farm risk assessments for calf respiratory disease. The app has six risk assessment sections. Each section consists of a series of questions with multiple choice answers, which generate a report highlighting the moderate and high-risk factors for calf health.

It highlighted some key areas that could be contributing to calves contracting pneumonia in the new shed at their youngstock rearing, Yards Farm. They included:

1. Airspeed and lower critical temperature (LCT)

Mr Fox explains: “It’s not uncommon to see the provision of inlet far above what is required in many new calf sheds. The requirement is 6m2, but here it is 32.45m2, which can leave the shed and calves open to draughts. The outlet should be 3m2 at Yards Farm, it is 3.66m2, which is good. It’s important to remember the air inlet area should always be at least double the required outlet.

“Although the louvred sides on one side and galebreaker curtains on the other can be closed to reduce the inlet, it’s important to be monitoring conditions to know when this needs to happen as windspeed can affect the LCT of the calf. Bob and Craig are looking to invest in a max/min thermometer to monitor conditions and make adjustments, when necessary,” he says.

The critical temperature for calves under three weeks old is 10ºC or 15 ºC when the windspeed is above 0.25m/secs, so its important to keep young calves protected from draughts. The upper critical is 25 ºC.

Results from a thermometer and humidity gauge left in the shed for three weeks throughout June this year revealed the average temperature was 15 ºC, with a high of 27 ºC and a low of 8.3 ºC

Mr Fox explains: “The lower temperature would have been below the LCT of the youngest calves, which can make them susceptible to conditions like pneumonia. Making sure the building remains at an appropriate temperature for calves is still a work in progress, but we are looking at insulating concrete panels in the pens to help maintain temperature and reduce losses.

“Another option, particularly over the winter, could be to increase the milk feeding, so instead of receiving 8litres (l) of milk a day, it is increased to 10l per calf a day. Increasing the volume is preferable to increasing the concentration of the milk, as this can lead to nutritional upset,” he adds.

Craig says they use calf jackets in the winter but haven’t in the summer due to varying temperatures. He also says they may consider covering part of the pens to reduce heat losses and install heaters. “We visited one farm using patio heaters to increase temperatures, and they seemed to be working effectively,” says Craig.

2. Minimise contact between pens

The Rispaudit highlighted an issue with nose-to-nose contact between the gates separating the three pens. Each pen houses 25 calves and since this has been highlighted, the Flemings have installed Solway boarding, making the gates solid and minimising any contact between groups.

3. Provide fresh water and coarse feed

Calves are housed for the first 10 days in single pens and bottle-fed twice daily. Rispaudit highlighted limited access to fresh water and coarse feed during this period was a risk factor for calf health. Mr Fox adds. “Calves from day one will drink water and stimulate their appetite to eat coarse feed and forage. This aids rumen development, and the more they can eat, the earlier the weaning time. The greater plane of nutrition and rumen development improves immunity which reduces the risk of infections.”

The Flemings have now added buckets for each pen, supplying calves with fresh water and coarse feed ad-lib.

4. Reduce calf stress

The app also highlighted some potential areas that could contribute to increased stress in calves, such as changing groups and disbudding while weaning.

Craig says: “We now keep the calves in the same group until they are weaned and disbud calves much earlier and away from weaning so we are not stressing them too much. Each pen is operated on an all-in-all-out basis, so we clean down between each batch to minimise any disease spread,” he adds.

5. Colostrum management

Colostrum management is often an area that is highlighted as being a risk for calf health, but at Yards Farm, it was already being done well. A previous study with the University of Glasgow did highlight suggested improvements in the storage and hygiene of the colostrum, with lids now added to containers and containers washed out thoroughly between use with fairy liquid and warm water.

All colostrum at Yards Farm is tested before feeding using a BRIX refractometer, with the target quality being 22% or above. The aim is to provide 3-4litres colostrum to calves within the first four hours.

The farm has tested for passive transfer of antibodies in calves less than seven days old, showing good immunity is passed on to the calves.

Calves are supplied with fresh water and coarse feed ad-lib

Why do the audit?

Craig says he’s glad he’s done the audit and recommends that other farmers embrace it to help fine-tune what they are doing. “It is really straightforward, and the colour coding makes it easy to understand the risk areas.”

Mr Fox suggests he returns to repeat the audit once more action points have been implemented.

“It only takes 45 minutes to complete and, from a vet’s point of view, allows you to do an assessment and ensure no stone is left unturned. It has enabled me to show Bob and Craig what they are doing well and areas for improvement.

“At this farm, it’s about fine-tuning improvements, but for other farms, it could be looking at how you can improve your existing calf accommodation. It can be done in any shed and with any age of animals,” he adds.

The Flemings don’t currently vaccinate for pneumonia, but it is something they may consider if levels can’t be controlled with management. “We will probably conduct some blood samples to see what pathogens are present and target the vaccination accordingly,” says Mr Fox.

He also points out that farmers in Scotland can access funding from the Scottish Government’s Preparing for Sustainable Farming Scheme to cover the cost of the respiratory disease audit and health testing.

“You can include testing as part of this, for example, blood tests to check for passive immunity or exposure to pneumonia viruses, which you can claim as part of the funding,” he adds.

Mr Fox added “There are lots of things that are working very well at Yards Farm. What Rispaudit has done is help target areas that can help fine-tune calf health and get the most of their investment in the new shed,” he said.

New calf shed was built to improve ventilation

Farm Facts

• Closed herd of 160 Holstein Friesian cows

• Yielding 9300l

• Calves' average growth rates of 750g a day

• Age of first calving 24-26 months

• Supplying First Milk

• Negative for BVD and IBR, and test yearly for Johne’s

• Finish some bull calves and sell some at one-month-old

• New shed with excellent natural ventilation

• Stocking density at maximum capacity is 4.8m2/calf, the minimum requirement for 50kg calves is 1.5m2