Greetings and Welcome to Our New Look for the WSU Dairy Newsletter
With this issue of the WSU Dairy Newsletter, we debut a new system for managing our Newsletter. Please provide any feedback in regard to the format and usefulness of this publication to Joe Harrison at jhharrison@wsu.edu.
Dr Amber Adams-Progar’s Top Ten Tips: Calf Management
After spending the last year and a half working with about 40 dairy farms, and putting over 60,000 miles on the rental car, I have seen a wide variety of calf management strategies. Some ideas were instant successes, some were close to success, and others just flat out failed. When evaluating your calf management practices, keep these 10 things (listed in no particular order) in mind:
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Calving area
Avoid housing sick cows in the calving pen and keep the calving area as clean as possible to limit a newborn calf’s exposure to pathogens.
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Location, location, location
Prevent the transmission of disease from older cattle to calves by housing calves away from older cattle and removing nose-to-nose contact between the two age groups.
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Cleanliness of calf environment
Cleaning the pen/hutch and buckets after each calf decreases bacteria exposure from calf to calf.
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Bedding
Choose bedding that keeps calves clean, but doesn’t irritate the respiratory system.
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Ventilation
Remember to test airflow at calf height and prevent drafty areas that may cause a calf to become chilled.
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Water
Access to clean water during the day improves calf gain and reduces the effects of heat stress.
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Nutrition
Providing sufficient amounts of milk and starter feed that are free of pests, including flies, promotes higher feed intake and better health.
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Lighting
Ensure the natural or artificial lighting is plentiful so calf care managers can easily observe calves for signs of illness.
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Colostrum
Quality of the colostrum should be measured using a Colostrometer or Brix refractometer for assurance that the calf will receive adequate immunity.
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Health records
Maintaining calf treatment records reduces errors in treating calves and reveals calf disease patterns that can be addressed with your veterinarian.
Feeding Pasteurized Waste Milk to Calves
If you have a steady supply of waste milk, you might consider pasteurizing and feeding it to calves. Many studies show this can result in cost savings, improved calf health and increased growth rates.
Definition of Waste Milk
Waste milk includes colostrum, transition milk, high cell count milk, milk withheld due to antibiotic treatment and mastitic milk. It isn’t recommended to feed raw or pasteurized milk that is overtly abnormal or milk with extremely high bacterial loads. Also, because of the possibility of antibiotic residues in waste milk from treated cows, it shouldn’t be fed to animals being raised for meat; this possibility might also discourage some producers from even feeding it to replacement heifers.
Hows and Whys
Milk replacer costs continue to rise and it is not cost-effective to feed salable milk to calves when milk prices are high. Feeding waste milk can meet calves’ nutritional needs by using an otherwise-discarded product. Feeding raw waste milk is not recommended due to its potential to contain a variety of disease-causing organisms (see box).
Pathogens of Concern in Raw Milk
- Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis
- Salmonella species
- Mycoplasma species
- Listeria monocytogenes
- Campylobacter species
- Mycobacterium bovis
- Enterobacter species
- Staphylococcus species
- E. coli
Pasteurized waste milk (PWM) greatly reduces the pathogen load to which calves are exposed, but not to the complete reduction achieved through the use of well-managed milk replacers. Growth rates on PWM exceed those of traditional milk replacers but are similar to those of new higher-quality milk replacers. The table below compares the nutritional content of milk, waste milk and milk replacers on a dry matter basis.
| Source | Protein | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 24 to 27% | 28 to 36% |
| Waste milk | 25 to 30% | 25 to 35% |
| Milk replacer | 18 to 29% | 15 to 20% |
Economic analyses found that feeding PWM was cost effective when at least 23 calves were fed in one study and 60 in another. This indicates that PWM feeding is probably not cost effective for smaller operations.
It is recommended to collect and store waste milk in a dedicated bulk tank so the pooled milk can make the nutritional content more uniform and dilute any milk containing antibiotics. Waste milk should be cooled to at least 45°F before and after pasteurization and protected from contamination after pasteurization. This bulk tank should be cleaned and sanitized just like the salable milk tank.
Advantages and Disadvantages
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
|
|
Pasteurization Options
Most pasteurizers are either standard batch pasteurizers (commercial or homemade) or commercial high temperature/short time (HTST) continuous-flow machines. Batch units heat a batch of milk to 145°F for 30 min.; the milk is cooled and fed. In HTST systems, milk is rapidly heated to 161°F for 15 sec., then cooled to be fed or held. These units pasteurize milk more quickly, thoroughly and dependably than batch systems, but they are harder to clean unless automated. The price of commercial units continues to drop with increasing acceptance on farms. Colostrum can be pasteurized, but it must be done at a lower temperature for a longer time so immunoglobulins essential for neonatal calf health will not be destroyed; 140°F for 60 min. is recommended.
Conclusions, Problem Solving and Cautions
As you can see, each farm needs to weigh the pros and cons of feeding milk replacer, raw waste milk, salable raw milk or PWM to calves. The ultimate decision is a balance between disease control, feed costs and labor; this decision can fluctuate with market price changes. Here is a summary of suggestions and considerations regarding the feeding of PWM:
- Do not use heavily contaminated waste milk or visibly mastitic milk for calves.
- Wait to feed PWM until calves are over one day old.
- Avoid switching calves between PWM and milk replacer. Estimate expected upcoming waste milk volumes and assign calves to either PWM or milk replacer feeding if there isn’t enough PWN for all. If calves must be switched, try to do so after calves are at least three weeks old.
- If waste milk volume is low, high somatic cell count milk could be included.
- Don’t collect milking system flush water with waste milk to be fed to calves; this will dilute milk nutrients excessively.
- Do not consider pasteurization a shortcut to sanitation, milk handling and best feeding practices. All milk feeding equipment (buckets, bottles, nipples, etc.) still need to be cleaned and sanitized or the disease-reduction benefits of pasteurization will be lost.
- Agitate and mix stored batches close to feeding time or fat will separate from milk, causing some calves to receive too little fat and others too much.
- Because pasteurization greatly reduces pathogen loads in milk but does not sterilize it, it is still recommended to house calves individually to prevent suckling and possible disease transmission.
- Employee training and understanding of pasteurization is essential.
- Routinely monitor the pasteurization process through temperature checks and milk cultures for quality testing (goal: standard plate count <20,000 cfu/ml).
- Reminder: calves fed PWM.
- may ingest antibiotics in milk from treated cows, so withholding periods must be observed.
- Suggestion: visit with producers who are successful with waste milk pasteurization systems to observe the process, ask questions and learn from their experience.
Postscript
On a related note, a spreadsheet that helps decide when it is more cost effective to feed milk replacer vs. salable whole milk is available from Penn State Extension. If you do not have access to the internet, contact me and I’ll be happy to work through the spreadsheet with you.
Useful links for additional information
- Bovine Alliance on Management and Nutrition (BAMN): Feeding Pasteurized Milk to Dairy Calves (pdf)
- University of Wisconsin Extension: On-Farm Pasteurization of Milk for Calves (pdf)
- Progressive Dairyman: Pros and cons of feeding milk to calves
- Penn State Extension: Pasteurization of Non-Saleable Milk
Western Dairy Management Conference
March 3 – March 5, 2015 | Reno, NV
John Ascuaga’s Nugget
1100 Nugget Avenue
Reno, NV 89431
800-648-1177
Conference Schedule
Registration
- Tuesday, March 3: 10:00 AM – 5:30 PM
- Wednesday, March 4 & Thursday, March 5: 6:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Seminar Schedule
- Tuesday, March 3: 1:30 PM – 5:30 PM
- Wednesday, March 4 & Thursday, March 5: 8:00 AM – 5:40 PM
Opening Reception
- Tuesday, March 3: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Registration
Go to the Western Dairy Management Conference website and complete your registration online. You can also register by mail. Complete and return the attached registration form (one form PER PERSON) along with payment. The conference fee is $390 per person if postmarked by February 1, 2015.
After February 1 the registration fee is $425. Student Registration is $200.
Waste to Worth 2015
March 30 – April 3, 2015 | Seattle, WA
You are invited to attend the International Conference on Livestock & Poultry Environmental Quality
A national network of agri-professionals addressing issues related to air, water, soil, and climate.
Details on registration, hotel accommodations, sponsorship, vendor display registration, program, and tours a the Waste to Worth conference website.
Who should attend?
- Extension agents & specialists
- Farmers & producers
- NRCS staff
- Technical service providers
- Consultants
- Regulatory & policy advisors
- Commodity groups
- Environmental NGOs
- Technology providers
- Researchers
- Vendors