Health status of dairy feeder calves arriving to a veal facility

Abstract Text:  

There are approximately 959,600 dairy cows producing 479,800 male dairy calves every year in Canada. Based on information gathered from the 2015 Canadian National Dairy Study, less than 7% of male calves are euthanized at birth, leaving a significant number of male calves to enter the red meat industry. In Ontario and Quebec, the majority of male dairy calves flow into the veal industry. In 2015, 213,659 veal cattle from approximately 551 producers were slaughtered in Ontario and Quebec. Currently, there is little information about the fitness of dairy feeder calves (traditionally referred to as veal calves) entering the veal industry in Canada. The objective of this descriptive study was to evaluate the health status of calves arriving at a large veal farm. Using a scoring program (Calf Health Scorer App) developed by McGuirk et al. (2014) and supplemental scoring adapted from Wilson et al (2000), Holstein and crossbred calves (n=1356 (1335 male and 14 female)) of unknown age were evaluated immediately upon arrival at the commercial milk-fed veal facility in Southwestern Ontario. The results from the period of November 2015 until March 2016 were tabulated and confidence intervals (CI) were calculated (Wald’s test) using Stata 14 (StataCorp College Station, Texas). Enlarged navels with at least heat or pain or moisture were found in 25.6% (95% CI: 23.3%-27.9%) of calves, diarrhea was present in 16.7% (95% CI: 14.7%-18.7%), fever (defined as greater than 39.5°C or 103.1°F) was present in 15.1% (95% CI: 13.2%-17.0%), lack of subcutaneous fat or emaciated appearance was present in 22.4% (95% CI: 20.1%-24.6%), depression or dullness was present in 26.8% (95% CI: 24.6%-29.3%), signs of clinical dehydration (defined as >5% dehydration based on skin tent, attitude, presence or absence of suckle reflex and eye recession) were present in 26.5% (95% CI: 24.2%-28.9%) and respiratory disease (defined as a combination of abnormal nasal and ocular discharge, ear and head position, cough and temperature) was present in 9.2% (95% CI: 7.6%-10.7%). Based on the results gathered thus far, a significant proportion of calves (42.7% (95% CI: 40.0%-45.3%)) are entering the facility with at least one identifiable health abnormality. This represents a significant welfare concern and the causes of the abnormalities need to be further understood to motivate a change in the way dairy feeder calves are treated. 

Keywords: dairy calf health, health screening, veal production