Colostrum management is probably the most critical aspect of scour control. Ensuring the calves receive 10% of bodyweight in the first 12 hours of life is critical. A 3-2-1 approach (3 litres, within 2 hours after birth as the 1st feed) is a useful yardstick. It is desirable that you continue to feed colostrum and post-colostral milk to dairy calves over the subsequent weeks. Colostrum should be stored in a hygienic manner, as if it is left at room temperature for a number of days, it can potentially become a “bacterial soup”.
Colostrum management is probably the most critical aspect of scour control. Ensuring the calves receive 10% of bodyweight in the first 12 hours of life is critical. A 3-2-1 approach (3 litres, within 2 hours after birth as the 1st feed) is a useful yardstick.
It is desirable that you continue to feed colostrum and post-colostral milk to dairy calves over the subsequent weeks. Colostrum should be stored in a hygienic manner, as if it is left at room temperature for a number of days, it can potentially become a “bacterial soup”.
Storing deep frozen in ziplock bags in 0.5 litre aliquots can ease management and thawing. Avoid mixing colostrum if Johne’s disease risk exists. A number of vaccines are now available for controlling three of the main scour agents and help to improve colostrum quality. These are listed in Table 1.
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Calves from vaccinated suckler cows generally receive enough antibodies in post-colostral milk to successfully prevent virus attachment. If you are already into the calving season, but your calving spread is adequate to allow a three week distance to calving, consider vaccination with a product that will give you the fastest onset of protection. From the list in Table 1, considering it is a one-shot primary course vaccine, Rotavec Corona is probably the most appropriate product to solve this situation. For less urgent onset of immunity, the other vaccines may be considered, but a primary course of two doses must be administered when first starting a vaccination programme on a farm with these other products.
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Special focus: animal health 2017
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