Dairies breeding with beef sires have impacted the wet calf market. Just how well are these young calves handling transport, commingling and their new home? Calves that receive adequate passive transfer of immunity from colostrum are more likely to survive and thrive.

The USDA National Animal Health Monitoring System dairy survey conducted in 2014 found that on average, bull calves left U.S. dairy farms at 7 days of age. Ninety-three percent of the reporting farms indicated bull calves received colostrum, but of those, 1.5% received colostrum only by suckling the dam, whereas no operations reported suckling as the sole means of providing colostrum to heifer calves. When bull calves were hand-fed colostrum, they received less volume and were fed colostrum later than heifer calves on the farm. These factors all contribute to failure of passive transfer (FPT) for wet bull calves, which often leave the farm within a week of birth.

Do similar disparages occur on your farm between the heifers you retain and the wet dairy bull calves and dairy-beef-cross calves you sell?

Spreading sickness

Calves with FPT have a higher risk of getting sick. They also shed more pathogens and contaminate calf-housing environments at higher rates than calves that receive adequate passive immunity. During transport, FPT calves shed pathogens in trailers and environments where they are off-loaded, which increases the risk of infection to all calves they contact. The stress of loading and unloading, more so than the total distance traveled, causes increased shedding of pathogens. FPT translates into higher morbidity and mortality rates among pre- and post-weaned calves.

Most dairy-beef-cross calves will be on the grill 18 to 22 months after birth. One or two treatments for respiratory symptoms early in a young calf’s life often causes reduced lung capacity, which raises susceptibility to respiratory disease later in life. In the feedlot, this leads to poor weight gain and reduced carcass quality grades.

Prevention from infectious scour and respiratory agents for calves less than 4 months of age is best provided by passive transfer of immunity from colostrum. Marketing wet dairy-beef-cross calves with some guarantee of future health and growth performance is an opportunity that dairies should not ignore. There are buyers looking for well-managed calves.

Marketing opportunity

Market the wet calf’s health status by sharing evidence of passive transfer of colostrum and the dam’s vaccination protocol. The calf received colostrum; therefore, the calf should have maternal antibody to the agents covered by the dry cow or close-up heifer vaccine protocol that includes scour prevention vaccines.

Use a portable calf scale to measure the calf’s weight before its first feeding to determine colostrum and subsequent feeding accuracy. Re-weigh calves prior to transport and market those that have gained weight since their birthday. Retain those that haven’t, and work to identify and correct the reasons why calves are not gaining weight.

Weekly validate colostrum management by measuring serum total protein or Brix measurements of all calves older than 1 day but younger than 7 days of age. Use serum monitoring to continuously improve your colostrum management. Market calves with documentation of passive transfer and keep those with failing scores at home so they do not have to face the challenges of transport and commingling. Raise FPT calves on the dairy and market them as older “started” calves.

The impact from future disease challenges is reduced just by applying a very good colostrum program to every calf, including dairy-beef-cross calves. Do you have enough colostrum? What’s your plan to ensure every calf gets what it needs?

Stuttgen is a veterinarian and the Extension ag educator in Taylor County, Wis. This column is provided by the University of Wisconsin Division of Extension Livestock Team.