Housing preweaned dairy calves in pairs rather than individually has been found to positively affect behavioral responses in novel social and environmental situations, but concerns have been raised that close contact among very young animals may impair their health. In previous studies, the level of social contact permitted in individual housing has been auditory, visual, or physical contact. I...

Calfhood diseases have a major impact on the economic viability of cattle operations. This is the first in a three part review series on calf health from birth to weaning, focusing on preventive measures. The review considers both pre- and periparturient management factors influencing calf health, colostrum management in beef and dairy calves and further nutrition and weaning in dairy calves.

In laboratory studies performed in the United States and Hungary, the dump fly Hydrotaea aenescens (Wiedemann) was reared successfully in manure of 1- to 8-wk-old dairy calves, and in manure from adult lactating dairy cows. Survival in manure collected from 1-wk-old calves was poor (7.2%), better in manure collected from 2- and 3-wk-old calves (53.5%), and best in manure collected from 4- to 8-...

background: cardiovascular system is a very importantorgan that plays a vital role in tissue function. in farm animals,the growth and high milk production depends on function ofcardiovascular system. objectives: cardiovascular health inhigh and low-yielding dairy cows was investigated. methods:fifty 4-year-old high- yielding holstein dairy cows and fifty 4-year-old low- yielding holstein dairy ...

Variation at the pleiomorphic adenoma gene 1 (PLAG1) locus has recently been implicated in the regulation of stature and weight in Bos taurus. Using a population of 942 outbred Holstein-Friesian dairy calves, we report confirmation of this effect, demonstrating strong association of early life body weight with PLAG1 genotype. Peripubertal body weight and growth rate were also significantly asso...

Some production parameters of seropositive cows (age, first calving age, 305 day mature equivalent last milk yield production, lifetime mature equivalent milk yield production, lifetime total milk production, lifetime total milking period, lifetime monthly milk production, lifetime daily milk production, lifetime total days of milking, number of inseminations per pregnancy (for last pregnancy),...

First-parity Holstein (H), Normande-Holstein (NxH) crossbred, Montbeliarde-Holstein (MxH) crossbred and Scandinavian-Holstein (SxH) crossbred cows calving from June 2001 to December 2003 were compared for dystocia and stillbirths from seven California herds. Dystocia scores ranging from 1 (no assistance) to 5 (hard pull) and stillbirths (1 for alive and 0 for dead) were recorded for 1695 Holste...

The fertility of lactating Holstein cows is severely reduced during periods of heat stress. Despite this reduction in fertility, however, some inseminations conducted during heat stress result in successful pregnancies from which heifer calves are born. Many of these heifer calves are retained and raised to enter the milking herd as replacement animals. Heat stress experienced by these females ...

L-glutamine supplementation improves gastrointestinal and immune function in dairy calves during controlled stress challenges. However, it is unknown whether supplementing milk replacer (MR) with preweaning calf health welfare under production conditions. Therefore, the study objective was to evaluate effects of MR on permeability, function, growth performance, postabsorptive metabolic biomarke...

Objective: Salmonellosis is a bacterial disease with a rising prevalence in the cattle industry. It is most common in dairy calves one to ten weeks of age. Salmonellosis has a serious economic impact on the cattle industry worldwide. Methods: In May 2013, a three months old male Holstein calf with the history of lateral recumbency was referred to veterinary hospital with severe depression, cach...