Healthy calves begin with clean habits

Most scours, from bugs like Rotavirus and Crypto, are spread through manure. Infection easily spreads among calves through contaminated pens, buckets, feeders, and gear. Scours is so common, the incident rate is around 25 percent of barn-reared calves. It is responsible for more than half of calf deaths during the immunity gap.

Strong hygiene and biosecurity practices—along with good colostrum management—are essential to keeping calves healthy and preventing disease spread. Establishing good routines helps give every calf the healthiest possible start to life.

1. Shed and equipment hygiene
   • When sheds are empty:
     • Remove all manure on the floor of the shed, and blast all wall surfaces with water first and then spray disinfectants. Remember: Any faecal material renders disinfectants ineffective. 
     • Spray pens with disinfectant. 
     • Use a broad spectrum disinfectant to improve results such as, Kenocox from Ecolab. 
     • Let pens dry completely before use. 
   • Bedding needs to be dry to keep calves warm and healthy. Perform a knee test to check: 
     • Kneel into calf bedding for approximately 30 seconds before standing up. 
     • Knees dry? Bedding is adequate. 
     • Damp, wet, or dirty knees? Replace the bedding. 
   • Disinfect pens regularly with a calf-safe product. 
   • Clean and disinfect calf trailers daily. To prevent umbilical cord infections, use rubber mats on the floor of your trailer to help calves stay standing. 
   • Clean feeding gear, including teats after each feeding:
     • Rinse with warm water (32 to 38°C).
     • Soak in hot water (>50°C) with detergent for 30 minutes. 
     • Scrub and wash again with hot water. 
     • Rinse and spray with sanitiser. 
     • Allow to fully dry on a drying rack. 
2. Biosecurity
   • Use an 'all in, all out' system. 
     • Fill pens by age group
     • Do not shift calves between pens unless moving it to a sick or recovery pen. 
   • Remove sick calves from healthy groups ASAP. 
   • If over one-third of a pen is scouring, keep group together and make it a sick pen. 
   • After leaving a sick pen, clean boots and gear and change into clean gloves. 
   • Outside each sick pen, set up a clean-up station with:
     • Bucket of disinfectant and scrub brush (change daily)
     • Box of clean gloves
     • Rubbish bin.
3. Air quality: Ammonia is a major air quality concern in calf sheds. It irritates airways and increases the risk of respiratory disease. Good airflow is needed to remove moisture and ammonia, but without creating drafts at calf level. 
   • To check air quality:
     • Start at calf level by kneeling to assess air.
     • If you can smell ammonia, ventilation is poor (aim for < 5 to 10 ppm). 
     • Check the humidity. Moist roofs, walls, or damp bedding indicate poor airflow. 
     • Check for drafts by using a lighter/match: if it blows out, there is a draft. Aim for a gentle breeze. 

Contact your local PGG Wrightson Technical Field Representative for help preparing your calf rearing shed before the season begins.