Care and Management of Calf

Care and Management of Calf:

The future of the dairy herd depends on how calves are raised. Calves

may be raised for future milk production, draft purpose, breeding purpose.

It is said that "Good animals are raised, not purchased." Nobody can go

on purchasing good animals of high pedigree endlessly. One has to raise

one's own calves to make a good herd. 

 Due to the high mortality of calves in India, calf rearing should be

taken up on scientific lines and economically achieved.

The dairy farming starting with the birth of a healthy and vigorous

calf.The care of calf starts in the womb of cow itself. Therefore, pregnancy

of cow during the last 15 days of pregnancy need special care and attention

of the dairyman.

1) Feeding and Management of the calf before birth:

Cows which are not fed properly will give birth to under-nourished

calves. Since the unborn calf makes most of its growth during the 3 or 5  months before birth, special care must be taken to feed the cows liberally at that time. Pregnant cow should have free access to grazing fields. If she is in a low condition, she should get 2-3 kg of grain in addition to grazing

for maintenance and one kg of grain for each 2.5 kg of milk in addition to

all the good quality roughages she eats.

2) Care of calf after birth :

• Immediately after birth of the calf, all slimy mucus from nostrils,mouth and on the body should be removed and calf should be wiped dry with a clean cloth to provide warmth to calf. 
• Normally the calf starts respiration immediately after birth, if necessary give artificial respiration.
• Allow the mother to lick the newborn calf.

• A light bedding of straw or dry grass should be provided to dam and calf.
• Remove yellow coloured tender hooves.
•  Cut the naval cord 3 cm away from the body with clean sterile scissor and then entire naval cord should be disinfected by dipping it into a cup containing tincture iodine.

• Feed colostrums to calf within two hours after birth @ 10% of body weight.
• Help the weak calf to suckle the mother.
• Body weight of calves is recorded along with length, breadth and height for the computation of milk allowances.

Systems of calf Rearing

There are mainly two systems of calf rearing

a) Suckling system

b) Weaning system

a) Suckling system

•  In this system, calf is allowed to suckle one or two teats of its mother during milking or allowed to suckle for a short period after milking.
• Calf is allowed to remain with its mother for the whole day, so that calf suckles the dam whenever required. This method is adopted in case of low producing cows.
• Two to four calves of similar age and vigour are kept in a stall pen with one cow which is called as nurse Cow.

Advantages:

• Suckling system is the most easy and practical method of raising calves.
• This is natural system of feeding.
• No much care is required to take during feeding 
• Calf grows rapidly. 
• The mother - calf affection developed.

Disadvantages : 

• It is problematic to manage when calf or mother dies.
• Actual milk production of cow cannot calculate.
• Feeding is uncontrolled, hence risk of over and underfeeding.
• It may cause injury to teats.
• lt is uneconomical or expensive method.

b) Weaning system :

In this system, calf is separated from its mother (dam) immediately

after birth or within two or three days from birth.

Advantages :

• The actual amount of milk produced by cow can be determined.
• If the calf dies, there is no difficulty in regular milking of the cow.
• Feeding is controlled, hence less risk over and underfeeding i.e. calf can be save from diarrhoea, scours etc.
• The calf can be culled out at an early age.
• Milking without calfis more hygienic and sanitary.
• Cow becomes regular breeder, the calving interval is less than the unweaned calves.

Disadvantages:

 Labour requirement for feeding calf is more.

The immediate step after weaning of the calf  to teach calf to drink milk

•  Nipple pail feeding

In this method pail equipped with rubber nipple which is used for milk

feeding to calf. The nipple pail has the advantage in that the calf takes milk

more slowly and is thus less likely to have digestive upsets. Care to be

taken at the time of feeding that nipple pail should be kept at a convenient

height. It facilitates training of calves to suckle milk.

• Pail seeding

In this method pail is used for milk feeding to calf. In requires

considerable patience, as some calves are slow in learning to milk from pail.

Clean and sterilized milking pail should be used. At the time of feeding.

put the forefinger in the mouth of calf and lower the head of calf till the

muzle touches te milk in pail. Then calf starts licking it and gradualy

sucks the milk from pail. After milk seeding, clean the mouth of calf and

the pail

Feeding of Calf

a) Fceding of Colostrum :

Colostrum is the first  milk of cow immediately afler calving.

Importance of colostrum:

lt is the first feed for the new born calf. It is

thick and yeliow in colour. It contains antibodies named gammaglobulins.

Which provides immunity against calfhood diseases. Colostrum contains

3 to 5 times more protein and 5 to 15 times more vitamin A than normal

milk laxative action helps to remove meconium i.e. first faeces of 

calf. Colostrum is also rich in some important minerals like copper, iron,

other vitamins including riboflavin, choline and etc. 

Feeding:

• Colostrum should be fed to calf within 2 hrs. after birth because during this period antibodies present in the colostrums are absorbed intact due to increased permeability of the intestinal wall. Later on this abosorpation rate goes on decreasing.
• Cołostrum should be fed @ 10% of the calf body weight per day. In conditions where there are no faciłities to weigh the calf, quantity of 2.5 to 3.0 kg. colostrum per day per calf may be offered.
• lt should be given in 2 to 3 divided doses in a day. The interval between feeding should be maintained constant to avoid digestive complications.
• The calf should be fed with colostrum for te first 3 to 4 days of its birth

Colostrum Substitute :

lf colostrum is not available due to death of dam or non secretion

from the udder. .Then colostnum from other freshly calved cow can be given.

A mixlure of the following ingredients can act as colostrum substitute in

emeregency.

Egg -one, Milk - 575 ml, Water - 284 ml, Castor oil - 2.5 ml

In addition to this, injection of 50 ml of dam's serum intravenously is

also recommended.

b) Feeding of Whole milk:

Maximum growth can be observed when the calf is fed liberally on

milk. Whole milk should be fed at a rate of 1/10th of thé body weight for

first 3 weeks, for next 2 weeks it is 1/5 th  then it is given at 1/20th  of the

body weight per day to calf and finally to switch to skim milk (the same

amount in proportion to body weight). It should be given in 2 to 3 divided

doses in a day. The interval between feeding should be maintained constant to avoid indigestion.Whole milk is generally provide adequate amount of vitamin 'A'. Addition of vitamin 'A' supplements when skim milk fed will provide insurance against vitamin 'A' deficiency.

c) Feeding of milk replacer:

On the dairy farms, where production costs are high and the product

is sold as whole milk, many dairymen are turning to milk replacers as a

means of lowering the cost of raising calves.

Milk replacer is dry feed mixture that is reconstituted with warm water

and fed to calf as replacement for milk.

Composition of good milk replacer is as follows:

• Dried skim milk -70%
• Dried whey- 18%
• Animal fat- 10%
• Lecithin-29%
• Dicalcium phosphate- 1.7%

To this add some antibiotics.

d)feeding of Calf starter:

When calves are approximately 10 days old, they will start to eat

dry feed. On many dairy farms where whole milk is sold, calves will be

started on whole milk and gradually shifted to a calf starter. It is the first

concentrate mixture fed to calves.

e)feeding of roughages:

During early period of life, rumen is not developed and hence is functional. It is advantageous to make the rumen functional at and early age by giving good hay or green tender grass to calf from 15 days of age. Calves will start to eat tender hay at about 15 days of age. Feeding roughages

establishes ruminal microorganisms and rumen becomes functional. They should be given soft textured, high quality hay on a free choice basis from

is 15 days of age.

Housing:

The young calves should be housed separately in calf pens according to their age & sex.

For an efficient management,calves of different ages viz.under three months,three to six 

months and over six months till they are weaned should be housed separately.Calf pens 

should be have proper ventilation,drainage and sufficient light.

Management:

• Identification of calf
• Dehorning
• Deworming
• vaccination
• Removing Extra teats
• Castrating the bull calf