Housing, Feeding and Management of Calves and Replacement Heifers in Swedish Dairy Herds

Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, Dec 2001

A questionnaire was sent to 1500 randomly selected dairy herds in Sweden, asking for general information about the herds, including routines from birth to first calving and also routines at breeding, calving and during the grazing period. Fifty-eight percent of the questionnaires were returned. The preweaned calves were kept in individual calf pens in 68% and in group housing systems in 28% of the herds. Pens with slatted floors were the main housing system for replacement heifers from weaning to breeding, and tie stalls from breeding to first calving. Whole milk was used in 44% and milk replacements in 42% of the herds. The calves received, as a median, 2.5 litres of milk per meal and 2 meals per day. The median age at weaning was 8 weeks. Age was the single most common criteria used for deciding both weaning and breeding time. The median age when the heifers were first turned out to pasture was 6 months. Prophylactic anthelmintic treatment was used by 65% of the herds. The most common diet for replacement heifers before calving was a combination of grain, hay and silage.

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Housing, Feeding and Management of Calves and Replacement Heifers in Swedish Dairy Herds

By K. Pettersson 0 C. Svensson 0 P. Liberg 0 0 Department of Animal Environment & Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Swedish University of Agricul- tural Sciences , Skara , Sweden Pettersson K, Svensson C, Liberg P: Housing, feeding and management of calves and Replacement heifers in Swedish dairy herds. Acta vet. scand. 2001, 42, 465478. - A questionnaire was sent to 1500 randomly selected dairy herds in Sweden, asking for general information about the herds, including routines from birth to first calving and also routines at breeding, calving and during the grazing period. Fifty-eight percent of the questionnaires were returned. The preweaned calves were kept in individual calf pens in 68% and in group housing systems in 28% of the herds. Pens with slatted floors were the main housing system for replacement heifers from weaning to breeding, and tie stalls from breeding to first calving. Whole milk was used in 44% and milk replacements in 42% of the herds. The calves received, as a median, 2.5 litres of milk per meal and 2 meals per day. The median age at weaning was 8 weeks. Age was the single most common criteria used for deciding both weaning and breeding time. The median age when the heifers were first turned out to pasture was 6 months. Prophylactic anthelmintic treatment was used by 65% of the herds. The most common diet for replacement heifers before calving was a combination of grain, hay and silage. - In modern milk production, calves are often overlooked. Increased knowledge about their situation is important for offering these animals rearing conditions in which they can maintain good health and adjust to milk production. A link between housing and health during the rearing period has been established by several authors; Goodger & Theodore (1986), Curtis et al. (1988), Perez et al. (1990), Olsson et al. (1994) and Svensson et al. (2000a) found group housing to be a risk factor for disease, while Simensen (1982) reported conflicting results. Furthermore, it has been shown that heifers suffering from a high incidence of disease as young calves have an increased risk of disease later in life, as well as a higher age at first calving (Waltner-Toews et al. 1986a). Correa et al. (1988) found that heifers that were healthy as calves were twice as likely to calve and calved 6 months earlier compared with calves that had suffered from respiratory disease during their first 90 days of life. Raising replacement heifers in such a manner that they will give birth for the first time around 24 months of age has been found to reduce production costs (Radostits et al. 1994). Mourits et al. (2000) estimated the optimal average age at first calving, from an economic point of view, to be 20.5 months in Holstein animals in Pennsylvania. None of these rearing aims are possible without optimal rearing conditions. It has been shown that management throughout the rearing period influences the longevity of the dairy cow and thereby the total herd economy (Drew 1998). In order for veterinarians and other advisors to be able to adapt their guidance to the situation on the individual farm, it is important to know which routines are used for management of replacement heifers on that farm. The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive view of the housing systems and the feeding and management routines used for replacement heifers in Swedish dairy herds. Materials and methods A questionnaire was sent to 1500 dairy herds, randomly selected among all herds in Sweden that had 28-94 cows and were registered in the official milk-recording programme. A cover letter explaining the purpose of the project was enclosed. The letter assured the farmers that they answered anonymously and that the answers were to be treated confidentially. To those not returning the questionnaire, a first reminder was sent after one month and a second and final reminder after another month. The questionnaire comprised 71 questions, and dealt with 7 sections. All questions referred to the routines used in the herds during 1998. The first section gathered general information about the herd, sections 2 to 4 information about routines from birth to first calving, and the last 3 sections emphasised routines at breeding and calving, and during the grazing period. The questions were of multiple-choice type (46) or were semi-closed questions (25). Before the questionnaire was mailed it was examined by 5 veterinarians and one agronomist. The questionnaires returned were individually examined for aberrant results, and the answer was marginally excluded when a question seemed to have been misunderstood. Geometric means, standard deviation (SD) and range or median and 80% central range (CR, i.e. excluding 10% at each end of the distribution) were produced using Microsoft Office Excel 2000. were returned. Despite all questionnaires not being completed by all farmers, most questions (79%) were answered by most of the responders (98%). The lowest answer (...truncated)


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K Pettersson, C Svensson, P Liberg. Housing, Feeding and Management of Calves and Replacement Heifers in Swedish Dairy Herds, Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, 2001, pp. 465-478, 42, DOI: 10.1186/1751-0147-42-465