A recent paper published in the Canadian Veterinary Journal provided insights into some of the losses that cow-calf producers suffer because of calf diseases.
Dr. Cheryl Waldner, Dr. Murray Jelinski and veterinary student Katelyn McIntyre-Zimmer of the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine surveyed slightly more than 300 cow-calf producers from across Western Canada about their calf losses in 2010.
The average herd size reported from the survey was 200 breeding cows.
The study found that 2.1 percent of all calves born were stillbirths, which was similar to previous surveys that have been conducted in North America.
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The two percent stillbirth rate tends to be fairly consistent across studies over the last few decades, despite improvements in other areas of production.
The greatest number of calf deaths occurred between birth and one month of age with an average death loss of 3.7 percent during this time period. Death loss between one and three months of age was lower with an average death loss of 0.8 percent .
Half of the producers identified scours and coccidiosis as the most important diseases affecting calf health.
Respiratory disease or pneumonia was the next most important disease identified at 34 percent.
On average, producers treated 5.5 percent of their calves for diarrhea, 2.7 percent for pneumonia and 1.3 percent for navel ill.
However, averages can be deceiving because some of the herds had treatment rates for diarrhea of greater than 17 percent.
Significant problems with calf diarrhea were reported in 14 percent of the herds.
These producers treated more than 10 percent of their calves.
Larger herds and herds that calved later in the year tended to treat fewer calves for scours or pneumonia.
Calf scours remained the most important reason for calf disease and treatments, but only 42 percent of producers reported vaccinating their cows and heifers for scours.
Scours vaccines typically are given to cows in late pregnancy to ensure that they will pass on antibodies to their calves in their colostrum.
Vaccines typically vaccinate against specific types of E. coli, rotavirus and coronavirus, which are all important causes of calf diarrhea.
Waldner’s study also showed that the use of clostridial vaccines in pregnant cows in the spring was associated with a decrease in the frequency of calf scours.
Producers used clostridial vaccines slightly more often than they did scours vaccine, with 57 percent using them in cows and heifers.
The use of these clostridial vaccines in pregnant cows may also provide important maternal immunity for calves, which helps prevent a particular type of scours that is not included in typical scours vaccines.
The survey also examined how producers used veterinary services.
Only half of the producers surveyed reported using a veterinarian to pregnancy test their cows and 60 percent reported having a veterinarian perform a breeding soundness examination on bulls.
Despite the fact that most farms reported losing calves, only 10 percent of them reported using a veterinarian to perform a post-mortem on a dead calf.
Larger herds were more likely to use veterinary services when compared to smaller herds, and larger and later calving herds were also less likely to treat calves for pneumonia and scours. Researchers noted that producers who have larger and later calving herds might be using more extensive calving conditions, such as on pasture.
These larger herds might have less intensive surveillance and therefore be less likely to treat calves because they are more difficult to monitor and restrain in those conditions.
The study could not show an association between the use of scours vaccine and a decreased frequency in scours treatments but did show that the use of clostridial vaccines in cows was related to herds having a de-creased frequency of scours treatments in calves.
