#2 in November

Optimal Herd Health Starts at Birth

The triumphs of tomorrow start with good beginnings.

How successful your milking herd is in the future begins with the health of calves being born today. By providing proper nutrition and management, you can get the calves’ gut microbiome and immune system off to a good start and help production, performance, and your bottom line.

Foundation of herd health starts with calves, and calf health starts with nutrition to support immune function and growth:

First thing’s first. Ask yourself this question, Are we providing a plane of nutrition for heifers to merely survive, or for them to thrive? Calves are born with 100% of their genetic potential. As managers we can deliver an environment and nutrition to either capitalize on that potential – or to lose it.

No, we will never have a perfect environment; and calves will never be able to express 100% of their genetic potential. However, we want them to express as much of their genetic potential as possible. Too often we find programs where calves are being fed on a plane of nutrition where we feed as little as we can get away with. It’s expensive to feed milk to these babies, whether we’re feeding whole milk or milk replacer. We should be asking ourselves a few questions…What is the cost of not providing quality nutrition? Is this enough for our calves to get by? Perhaps. Remember that ultimately, optimal nutrition for the calves to thrive and be productive is the long-term goal.

Quality nourishment and proactive management are vital from day one. Establishing a healthy gut microbiome from birth can have a lasting impact throughout a calf’s life. Most of their immune system is found in the gut. This is why gut health is linked to immune health. It’s also why providing high-quality colostrum is critical, as it helps develop a calf’s microbiome, and it’s an essential part in keeping calves healthy. Every discussion on calves starts with colostrum because study after study continues to build on the importance of calves receiving an adequate quantity and quality of it.

At birth, a calf’s microbiome is immature. Colostrum helps develop it, protecting the gut lining and helping shape the immune system. A good starting point for evaluating the effectiveness of your colostrum program is measuring total serum proteins in the blood of calves. Improved passive transfer results in healthier calves. However, according to the 2007 National Animal Health Monitoring System survey, approximately 19% of dairy heifer calves in the US had failure of passive transfer. To provide successful passive transfer of immunity, it’s important to feed high quality colostrum; feed colostrum promptly after birth (within 1-2 hours); and minimize bacterial contamination of colostrum by proper udder preparation – collecting colostrum in a clean container long with implementing other sanitation best practices. Colostrum management is the single most important management factor in determining calf health and survival.

Key is to establish and feed gut microbes for optimal growth:

Why establishing a healthy microbiome is critical? The rumen and intestine microbiomes contribute to most of a dairy animal’s functions. They play a key role in the digestion of nutrients, education of the immune system, functionality of gut epithelium, and setting up a proper gut environment. Members of the gut microbiome also produce a range of metabolites that impact the function of other organs such as the lungs, liver, udder, and reproductive system. Therefore, establishing proper rumen and intestine microbiomes early in life and then supporting their populations throughout different stages of life is pivotal for the long-term health and production efficiency of dairy calves and cows.

What factors affect establishment of the gut microbiome? Colonization of both the rumen and intestines start during and after birth. Microbes from the vaginal tract and cow environment are among the first colonizers followed by those introduced by colostrum, milk, liquid, and solid feed. Among these, colostrum and milk microbiota perhaps play a more important role in intestinal microbiome development than that of the rumen. This is speculated because in sucking calves, the majority of milk bypasses from the rumen to the abomasum through the esophageal groove to avoid wasteful fermentation in the rumen. As a result, the more extensive establishment of the rumen microbiome begins with an introduction of solid feed. During the first several weeks of a calf’s life, microbiomes of the rumen and hindgut are changing quickly from one composition to the next. The first group of colonizers change the gut environment in a way that promotes the growth of a certain group of secondary colonizers, and so on. Their adequate abundance maximizes calf growth and immune efficiency, while promoting robustness and resilience of the microbiome against stressors and infectious agents.

How can we impact microbiome development? Calf nutrition and management strategies can play a critical role in setting up the proper rumen and intestine microbiomes for life. These strategies start with timely feeding of colostrum. Research at University of Alberta showed that delaying first colostrum feeding by 12 hours tends to decrease Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp., compared to calves fed colostrum immediately after birth. Adequate abundance of influential species is essential for proper interaction of the calf and its microbiome, along with the education of the immune system in the long run.

Other strategies during the pre-weaning stage, such as feeding liquid calf diets fortified with probiotics and postbiotics, can improve proper colonization of the calf microbiome, help prevent microbial imbalance, and reduce incidence of infectious diseases. Weaning age and stepwise vs. abrupt weaning strategies can also influence the speed and extent of the rumen and intestine microbial transition. The transition from liquid to solid feed results in a shift in site of digestion from the intestines to the rumen. Low rumen pH at weaning accompanied with an imbalance of rumen and intestine microbiomes can compromise the epithelial barrier function and result in leaky gut. As a result, a weaning strategy that,

for instance, includes postbiotic supplementation can provide influential members of the microbial community a competitive edge over opportunistic – e.g. faster growers – and pathogenic microorganisms. This helps prevent excessive growth of those species and helps maintain the diversity and balance of the rumen and intestines microbial communities. The outcome is a controlled fermentation and improved rumen and hindgut environment. All together, these strategies can minimize weaning associated feed intake depression, improve calf growth, and reduce susceptibility of calves to infectious diseases within and outside of the gut.

Better calf health leads to better performing cows:

Sufficient nutrition and management early in life not only help improve performance, health, and the wellbeing of young calves, but they can also allow calves express their genetic potential for milk production and longevity. We need to recognize these effects and capitalize on them though our management and feeding practices. Through genetic selection in breeding programs, we might achieve improvements of 150-300 lbs. of milk production per lactation. Striving for continued genetic improvement is important; however, it’s key to remember that as managers, we can have a significantly greater impact on lifetime performance.

It is well established, that calves fed to double their birthweight by 56 days of age will have improved milk production in both their first lactation and cumulatively across their lifetime performance. Across many studies, the first lactation improvement averaged 1,500 lbs. of milk, and 6,000 lbs. of improved production after three lactations. Research at Cornell demonstrated that calves receiving just one antibiotic treatment while on milk produced over 1,000 lbs. less milk in their first lactation. The bottom line is better nutrition equals healthier and more resilient animals.

Lifetime performance is influenced by early life development. Dairy producers can manipulate the early life of a calf through nutrition. Ensuring a productive cow in the future will depend on feeding and managing the calf of today.