Setting newborn calves up for success starts with a clean calving environment whether that be a clean pasture or fresh bedding in the barn. A clean environment prevents illness in newborn calves. Areas with excess manure have increased risk of spreading disease such as scours. Calf scours is costly to producers due to poor calf performance, death, and the expense to treat the sick calves. Preventing contact with pathogens can help reduce the level of exposure and transmission.
Pasture Management
Calving pastures should have good drainage and very little opportunity for mud. Areas of surrounding feed bunks and water sources can accumulate pathogens and diarrheal organisms regardless of calving pen or pasture size. If possible, calving on ground where the herd has overwintered should be avoided as cows can shed disease-causing germs that have a long survival period. If these organisms are in the environment in elevated levels due to the cows being present for prolonged periods of time, incidences of illness can increase in calves. Many producers have had success in reducing calf morbidity with the ‘Sandhills Calving System’ which was developed through the University of Nebraska. The idea of this system is to limit exposure of young calves to disease pathogens by:
- Segregating calves by age to prevent direct and indirect transmission of pathogens from older calves to younger calves.
- Scheduled movements of pregnant cows to clean calving pastures, minimizing pathogen dose-load in the environment.
In this system all cows are in one pasture at the beginning of calving season. Every 7 to 10 days or 100 calves that are born, the cows that have not calved yet are moved onto a clean pasture. The process just repeats itself until everything has been calved. Once the youngest group of calves is about 4 weeks old, they can be commingled with other groups as they are past the point of greatest susceptibility. The Sandhills Calving System takes a lot of planning and will look different for each operation. Producers should modify the system concepts to best fit their operation and available facilities.
Barn Management
A dry and clean environment is critical to avoid transmission of scours and respiratory disease and this is accomplished by providing clean bedding and proper ventilation Are You Moving Enough Air in Your Calving Barn? Part 3: Ventilation requirements. While the barn may look clean, it is often filled with bacteria. It is recommended to remove wet and soiled straw or sawdust or bedding from calving areas to limit damp areas where bacteria can grow. After removing old bedding, provide fresh clean bedding. Bedding is not the only thing to keep clean but disinfecting panels or boards with a bleach solution can help kill bacteria. The area should be kept as dry as possible so using lime or lye could aid in drying the soil. The best disinfectant is UV rays, so open the shed doors and let the sun shine in!
The Bottom Line
A clean calving environment sets newborn calves up for healthy success. Newborns are the most fragile of animals present in a cow-calf operation. Their immature immune system makes them vulnerable to a list of health concerns. It is important that producers reduce this vulnerability by reducing exposure to disease-causing organisms as much as possible to set these calves up for success.
