CALVING CHALLENGES

Diarrhoea and respiratory disease are the two most common causes of mortality of calves

CALF PNEUMONIA & RESPIRATORY DISEASE

Pneumonia of dairy calves is a disease of young, housed calves. It can be caused by a combination of threats to your calf, including poor colostrum management, dehydration and other diseases in addition to bacterial agents such as ammonia. Other respiratory diseases in your calves may include calf diphtheria, calf coughs and lungworm.

Affected calves might cough and could be either bright and well with minimal discharge from their nose/eyes or they could be very sick. Early diagnosis, treatment and prevention is really important as once the calves are sick the damage to the lungs can be permanent, meaning the calves will continue to be susceptible to respiratory disease as they grow.

By using ZorbiFresh™ Active in your calving pens to avoid ammonia growth and prevent damp and smelly bedding, you will help eliminate bacteria as soon as it is laid. Also try in combination with OptiCalf™ or OptiCalf™ Flourish to help create strong, healthy calves.

DIARRHOEA (SCOURS) IN DAIRY CALVES

Diarrhoea (scours) is not a specific disease but the clinical sign of a disease complex with many possible causes. It is the leading cause in calves death within the crucial first 60 days of their lives. Other diseases to look out for as a result of scours may include salmonella, E.coli, gram negative bacteria, Campylobacta, Rotovirus and will be detrimental to the health of your calves.

Scours occurs when normal movement of water into and out of the digestive tract is disrupted, resulting in water loss and dehydration. Loss of body fluids through diarrhoea is accompanied by loss of body salts which can lead to severe depression in the calf and eventual death.

Try OptiCalf™ or OptiCalf™ Flourish to help alleviate diarrhoea (scours) as a challenge for your calves health.

Calf Weight Gain

Looking for a solution to lack of weight gain in your dairy calf herd?

To ensure the longevity and productivity of a healthy dairy herd, calves need to gain significant weight from the rearing to weaning stage. Especially in the first 60 days of a calf's life, there are many challenges faced by both the farmer and the dairy calf herd. Weight gain in your calves is extremely important as successful weaning based on calf weight and meal intake will help calves develop into healthy heifers.

With good calf weight management from rearing to weaning, farmers will ensure a more efficient transition for their dairy herd. The difficulty of managing a large herd of calves can be time-consuming for farmers as many stressors within the first 60 days of their lives are present. Weaning will be more successful if your calves are only exposed to one stressor at a time.

Weaning can be a challenging time for a calf for two main reasons:

Their main source of nutrients switches from liquid to solids
They are exposed to new bugs or bacteria as they enter new environments.

Our OptiCalf™ products can help alleviate the challenges of weight gain or weaning in your dairy calf herd. OptiCalf™ is a good solution for busy farmers looking to maintain calf weight gain as an easily dispersible granule in feed troughs. Whereas OptiCalf™ Flourish has added probiotics to support rumen health and good bacteria for the longevity of a healthy dairy herd, feed in milk.

ENVIRONMENTAL BACTERIA

Looking for a solution to environmental concerns for your dairy calf herd?

Environmental factors that plague dairy calf health in their first 60 days can be caused by the challenges of over-crowding in calving pens and lead to the threat of ammonia in calves bedding. These factors can lead to other health concerns in the calf such as respiratory disease and lead to long-term loss of productivity in your dairy herd. These concerns can be anything from pathogens, wet, damp or smelly bedding to calf scours, salmonella, E.coli or other calf diseases.

ZorbiFresh™ Active helps to eliminate these environmental concerns by killing bacteria as soon as it's laid, absorbing up to 199% of its weight in moisture and reducing bacteria in calf pens. Giving both animals and farmers a fresher and healthier environment.

Try ZorbiFresh™ Active to help alleviate environmental factors as a concern for your herd.

ZorbiFresh Active absorbs up to 199% of it's weight in moisture