Shorter Hauls Suggested for Traveling Calves

Moving preweaned calves from their birth dairy to an off-site rearing facility is a common practice in many parts of the world.

The veal industry in the Netherlands relies on male dairy calves supplied from both in-country and outside of Dutch borders. Preweaned calves arrive at Dutch veal farms after leaving their birth places throughout Europe, including Germany, France, Denmark, and Ireland. In many ways, it is a model not so different than the way calves are delivered to the custom calf growers and ranches of the U.S.

But moving those babies presents a unique set of challenges. How can we best transport calves to achieve our production goals, while protecting their health and welfare at the same time?

Dr. Francesca Marcato, independent researcher at Wageningen Livestock Research, Genderland, Netherlands, has extensively studied calf transport in the Netherlands. On a recent webinar presented by the Dairy Cattle Welfare Council, she shared her insights and advice on how to increase calf “robustness” – or their ability to respond quickly to a challenge -- based on management practices at the source farm; age at transport; transportation conditions; and receiving practices at the rearing facility.

One of Marcato’s key findings: the shorter the trip, the better the outcome. She compared the performance, health, and behavior outcomes of calves with a transport duration of 6 hours versus 18 hours. The results:

Pre-shipment diet – Immediately before transport, calves were fed either 1.5 liters (~quarts) of either milk or electrolytes. In the long-haul (18-hour) group, the diet made no difference, as both groups had lost about 1.5 pounds upon arrival. But milk-fed calves in the short-haul (6-hour) group actually showed a gain of nearly a pound upon arrival, while the electrolyte-fed calves had lost nearly half a pound.

Nutrient utilization – The longer fasting time for the 18-hour group resulted in calves having lower blood glucose levels at both arrival and 24 hours later, meaning they had used up more systemic energy reserves. Blood urea concentrations were much higher at both arrival and 24 hours later for the long-haul group, indicating those calves had begun to catabolize their systemic protein reserves.

Stress – Blood levels of cortisol – a hormone that is an indicator of stress – were significantly higher for the long-haul group, again at both arrival and 24 hours later.

Discomfort behavior – The researchers evaluated negative animal behaviors that included tongue playing, manipulating objects, manipulating other calves, urine drinking, and repetitive vocalization. On the day after arrival at the receiving farm, the long-haul group exhibited a significantly higher level of collective discomfort behaviors compared to the short-haul group.

The bodyweight loss, metabolic challenges, and stress incurred by calves with the 18-hour transport duration led Marcato to recommend shorter journeys to protect calf health and welfare. Additionally, feeding calves milk versus electrolytes immediately before departure proved to support them better nutritionally.

In her age-of-transport research, Marcato evaluated calves shipped at 14 days of age compared to 28 days. While this is older than the age at which most calves are shipped in the U.S., she noted the interesting phenomenon that shipping at 14 days of age happens to hit the window of lowest immunity in calves, because at that point their colostral immunity has waned below “safe levels,” and their natural immunity is not yet developed enough to compensate for it.

Older calves (28 days) fared better in terms of need for medical treatments, mortality, body weight, and even final carcass weight. But regardless of shipping age, the prevalence of loose and liquid manure two weeks after transport was much higher than the day of arrival (35% versus 15%). Marcato said that statistic showed the overall difficulty that young calves have in coping with the movement and transition to a new farm.

Finally, her work reinforced the paramount importance of early delivery of high-quality colostrum. Calves with lower passive immunity, as measured by IgG levels in blood, had a significantly higher likelihood of later needing medical treatment with antibiotics or anti-inflammatory drugs. This relationship proved true when IgG levels were measured at one week after birth, upon arrival at the receiving farm, and two weeks after arrival.

Further, Marcato shared that similar results were realized in an Italian study that also examined veal calves in transit. In that study, calves with less than 7.5 g/L of IgG upon arrival at the veal farm had the highest likelihood of illness requiring antibiotic treatment.

“It’s very important to have a good start on the dairy farm so that better results can be realized following shipping,” Marcato advised.