Managing calves/youngstock to optimise dairy herd health

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates that youngstock management can play a critical role in optimising dairy herd health. While the immediate impact of better calf management is visible to farmers in better youngstock health and growth, the long-term benefits in dairy herd productivity and survival need to be emphasised more by veterinarians and agricultural advisers. The most consistently reported management factors associated with reduced age at first calving (AFC), higher milk production and longer survival were feeding a larger volume of colostrum, offering a higher liquid feed volume preweaning, offering a higher solids milk replacer, offering whole milk and a higher average daily gain. The three health disorders most frequently associated with increased AFC, lower milk production and shorter survival were dystocia, calf diarrhoea and respiratory disease. These results have implications for producer perception and management of calfhood nutrition and health hazards and veterinary communication on calfhood disease sequelae with lag dynamics.