Tuesday, May 18, 2010
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Posted by: Dairy Calf & Heifer Association
By Roy Williams, 2010 Leadership Class member
After the heifers arrive at your dairy, there are some actions you can take to minimize losses:
Monitor cattle closely after arrival, for two weeks.
Isolate all sick cattle immediately to reduce spread of diseases to healthy animals.
Be sure you have accurate treatment records from the grower, especially for any heifer recently treated: bactericidal and bacteriostatic antibiotics work against each other, greatly reducing the effectiveness of both. Your veterinarian needs to know what medications have already been given to be able to give you a good recommendation on what medication to use.
Sudies of feedlot steers has shown that identification of Bovine Respiratory Disease is very inaccurate, with one survey finding that about 70% of all cases are never treated for any form of BRD.(1) Thus, it is important that the person monitoring arriving cattle is well trained on recognizing the symptoms of respiratory diseases.
Shipping related issues Shipping subjects heifers to multiple physiological stresses. You should check the heifers immediately upon arrival for: injury, fatigue, dehydration, excessive hunger, depression (off feed, lying down more than others) and take immediate corrective action on any observed problems.
Shipping stress may cause premature births during or immediately after shipment, so watch for calving. In operations where breeding recordkeeping is lax and/or cattle are not closely monitored, it is not unusual to find newborn calves on the trailer when heifers are unloaded, or to find dead or dying heifers that tried to calve unassisted in the trailer or in the receiving pen. Don't let this happen on your dairy: get those heifers back well before calving time!
Some actions you can take to minimize shipping losses are:
Provide as quiet and comfortable dust-free and stress-free environment as possible upon arrival; stressed animals may shed pathogens that would not otherwise be shed.
Monitor arriving cattle for intestinal parasites (worms) - prevent arriving heifers bringing new parasite infections into the milking herd.
Very few labs can test for cryptosporidiosis, but if you have access to a lab that can, you should. Cows with chronic (lifelong) cryptosporidiosis infections average 7 pounds per day less milk than uninfected herd mates (2), and they will spread cryptosporidium on your dairy for as long as they are in the herd.
Check for external parasites such as ticks, mites, lice, and fleas.(3) Heifers should be treated for external parasites before they leave the grower.
A few days after arrival, you should systematically health check every heifer with an in-the-chute examination: i. Respiratory disease ii. Mastitis and obvious blind quarters iii. Metritis (due to aborted pregnancy) iv. Pregnancy v. External parasites vi. Injuries, abscesses, other disease symptoms vii. Internal parasites (monitor via random sampling) viii. Body condition score ix. Weight and height x. Willingness to eat (verify they are not off-feed)
References
1. Galyean ML, Duff GC, sl: Recent advances in management of highly stressed, newly received feedlot cattle. American Society of Animal Science. Journal of Animal Science. 2007; 85: 823-40.
2. Anderson BC, Esteban E. Cryptosporidium muris: Prevalence, Persistency, and Detrimental Effect on Milk Production in a Drylot Dairy. Journal of Dairy Science. 5, 1995; 78: 1068-72. 3. Heinrich AJ, Swartz LA. Management of Dairy Heifers. sl: Pennsylvania State University Extension Service.
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