Pre-Weaned Calf Rearing on Northern Irish Dairy Farms: Part 1. A Description of Calf Management and Housing Design

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Calf health, welfare and performance in the first few months of life are important for the lifetime productivity of dairy cows. Therefore, all aspects of management, including nutrition, hygiene, housing and health, should be optimal to maintain productive calves. As there is little information surrounding these areas on Northern Irish dairy farms, this study investigated 66 farms with the objective of describing common trends and identifying factors which have the potential to compromise calf health, welfare and performance. A large degree of variation was seen in calf housing and other management practices across the farms. The majority of housing, in terms of building design and functionality, was identified as sub-optimal and is likely a contributing factor for selection of particular management practices. Regular monitoring of management practices such as measuring quantity of feedstuffs provided and animal live weight allows farmers to assess the effectiveness of their rearing system. However, this study highlighted a lack of appropriate monitoring and measuring in several key areas that present a risk for calf health and performance. ABSTRACT: The first few months of life are of great importance to the longevity and lifetime performance of dairy cows. The nutrition, environment and healthcare management of heifer calves must be sufficient to minimise exposure to stress and disease and enable them to perform to their genetic potential. Lack of reporting of farm management practices in Northern Ireland (NI) makes it difficult to understand where issues impacting health, welfare and performance may occur in the rearing process. The objective of this study was to investigate housing design and management practices of calves on 66 dairy farms across NI over a 3-month period and also identify areas that may cause high risk of poor health and performance in dairy calves. An initial survey was used to detail housing and management practices, with two subsequent visits to each farm used to collect animal and housing-based measurements linked to hygiene management, animal health and performance. Large variations in key elements such as weaning criteria and method, calf grouping method used, nutritional feed plane, and routine hygiene management were identified. The specification of housing, in particular ventilation and stocking density, was highlighted as a potential limiting factor for calf health and performance. Lack of measurement of nutritional inputs, hygiene management practices and calf performance was observed. This poses a risk to farmers’ ability to ensure the effectiveness of key management strategies and recognise poor calf performance and health.