As the temperatures begin to drop, we are reminded that winter is right around the corner. For us on the dairy, this means our nutrition and management techniques, especially for calves, need to switch focus a bit. The main areas of focus for cold-weather calf care are disease prevention and providing adequate nutrition for continual growth.
When I talk about calf care, I like to break it down into categories of C’s. What I mean by that is care, consistency, and comfort. When implementing a practice or management change, I always ask myself, “Would this fit into one of the 3 C’s?” So, let’s talk about winter calf care while thinking about the 3 C’s.
The first C we talk about is care. When we think about care for calves, that means doing what’s most beneficial for their health, growth, and well-being in different environments and situations. This means that we need to adapt our care for them to ever-changing environments. Temperature is one of the many factors that affect stress in calves. Wind, moisture, hair coat quality, sunlight, and rumination can also affect how naturally warm or cold our calves are. Our youngest calves begin to experience cold stress when temperatures fall below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. That might not seem cold to you or me, but to a calf, if not given proper care, can lead to disease and poor growth, affecting the producer’s bottom line. According to Kathy Barret from Cornell University, calves that do not experience cold stress are healthier and more productive throughout their life. Ensuring our calves are clean and dry throughout the winter will lead the calf and the producer to success. Taking the extra time to dry off newborn calves or putting them in a warming box ensures a good start to life. A clean, dry haircoat provides more insulation from the elements than a wet one. This applies to blankets also. Calves 3 weeks and under can benefit from the extra warmth of a blanket. But, if the blanket is dirty or wet, it will only do that calf more harm. Changing blankets when they become dirty or soiled provides extra care for the calf as the weather gets colder.
The next C I think about regarding winter calf care is consistency. Calves thrive on consistency in all aspects of their life. One of the most critical areas is nutrition. It is vital, especially during the winter months, to feed calves at the same time daily. Young calves have very little stored fat reserves for energy. As a result, the more energy the calf spends on maintaining its body temperature, the less energy it spends on growing. This also reduces immune function and exposes calves to opportunities for pathogens and disease to overtake them. We can help combat this stressor with proper care and an increased plane of nutrition. Consistent digestion function and rumination also help produce heat to keep the calf warm. Encouraging grain consumption is crucial. Eating grain sooner will positively affect the calf’s ability to handle cold stress. Adding a third feeding of milk during the day is also a way to increase the nutrition from milk without having to add volume to each feeding (Drackley, 2008). Feeding more milk by volume or adding an additional feeding can be labor intensive. If that option does not work for your program, changing to higher energy (fat) milk replacer or adding a supplement to whole milk to increase energy content will also help boost daily gains during the colder months (Drackley, 2008). By feeding more milk and grain during the winter months, we encourage growth and help keep a consistent plan of nutrition for the calf.
The last C, comfort, plays a big role in wintertime calf care. As we discussed, keeping calves warm and dry are two factors to successful growth as the weather gets colder. In addition to that, comfort is also a key contributor to increased growth. Changing the type of bedding for calves in the winter months is a smart strategy. Dry straw or shavings provide more insulation and comfort to the calf in the winter than sand or concrete, which keeps them cool in the summer. Straw is also a great additional layer to add on top of shavings to provide extra insulation during frigid nights. We want to encourage calves to nestle into their bedding, which improves lying time. A reduction in lying time has been shown to affect a calf’s growth rate (Camiloti et al., 2012). Hence, calf comfort is just as important as cow comfort. I also like to remind producers that the Knee Test is a simple yet useful tool for the winter months. If you are unsure if the bedding needs to be changed, get in the hutch or pen and get down on one knee. If there is a lot of moisture on your pant leg, the housing needs a refresh or more bedding. Ventilation and draft-free housing are also key for calf comfort. Drafts not only cause heat loss but can also increase respiratory diseases in calves. Providing fresh, clean airflow will also help mitigate stale air and reduce opportunities for respiratory pathogens.
Now we’ve gone through the importance of the C’s of winter calf care: care, consistency, and comfort. Implementing different calf care and management strategies during the colder months will set your calves up for a lifetime of success.
Sources
Barrett, Kathy . “Winter Calf Care.” Progressive Dairy, November 2021, ecommons.cornell.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/9f759862-0459-4445-84ba-1dc9b2247f9e/content. Accessed 1 November 2024.
Camiloti, T.V., et al. “Short Communication: Effects of Bedding Quality on the Lying Behavior of Dairy Calves.” Journal of Dairy Science, vol. 95, no. 6, June 2012, pp. 3380–3383, Doi.org/10.3168/jds.2011-5187. Accessed 1 November 2024.
Drackley, James K. “Calf Nutrition from Birth to Breeding.” Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice, vol. 24, no. 1, Mar. 2008, pp. 55–86, Doi.org/10.1016/j.cvfa.2008.01.001. Accessed 1 November 2024.
