Study – small changes on farm can boost calf liveweight gains

Details of soon to be released research by vets working on farms in the UK and Italy showed that following lean management principles, coupled with vaccination for scour, led to mean daily liveweight gains in calves from birth to eight weeks of 0.044kg per day.

When compared against control groups, the gain per calf at the best-performing farms was nearly 140g per day – or nearly 1kg a week.

Concept

Early results for the Fencovis/lean management study were revealed at Boehringer Ingelheim’s calfXpert Optimax Global Awards in York.

Lean management, as a concept to promote efficiency, was pioneered by Toyota in the 1930s and has been picked up by multiple sectors.

In a farm context, elimination of waste in resources and effort can lead to animal welfare and farm economic benefits.

Jonathan Statham, partner and chairperson of Bishopton Veterinary Group in North Yorkshire, and chief executive of research arm Raft Solutions, led the study which monitored changes and daily liveweight gain (DLWG) across the participating herds.

‘Positive effect’

Speaking after the meeting, Prof Statham said: “The variation in daily liveweight gains was wide between farms.

“There was significant positive effect of vaccination and lean management change when all herds were considered together, but the best performing herds observed more than three times the benefit than this average effect – growing at more than 140g/day faster than control animals, so nearly 1kg/week better.

“Machine learning multivariate analysis approaches were valuable in understanding the significance of different management features in complex multifactorial farm management.

“It was surprising that volume of second colostrum feed was so important in determining DLWG, but this was an important point of difference between herds.”

Programme

The study had followed improvements suggested in Boehringer Ingelheim’s Optimax programme, which concentrates on identifying and eliminating “wastes” on farm in key areas, including waiting, such as for staff to carry out duties or calves to be fed; transport, such as reducing distances moving calves or for colostrum moving between milking and the calf house; and defects in machinery or equipment.

It also focuses on avoiding useless work, such as jet-washing exteriors of calf housing, focusing on inventory to prevent over-storing of feed or lack of space to store equipment, and fostering non-utilised knowledge among team members to aid in the improvements.

Speaking at the awards day in York, Matt Yarnall, global vet channel excellence manager for Boehringer Ingelheim, said: “It is not just about the vaccine, but also the holistic, lean, meaningful calf management process, and doing it on a farm by farm basis.

“That’s the challenge. You can’t just give a piece of paper and, ‘go do this, off you go, you’ll be fine’. It needs to fit into that farm.”

Prof Statham added: “Most importantly, the study and the overall approach offers guidance in the importance of listening to all members of the farm team, and prioritising a realistic number of management changes alongside the importance of vaccination as a consistent and achievable tool in supporting good calf health and more sustainable calf growth and rearing.”

Award winners

Two vets from the same Dorset practice were among the finalists in an award programme – the Optimax Global Awards by Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health – where changes made on farm made significant changes to herd efficiency.

Rebecca Price, of Friars Moor Livestock Health, won the case study-led contest and the €4,000 (£3,305) prize for her case at a family run farm with 250 Holstein-Friesian cows and a 50 per cent incidence of pneumonia in calves. Incremental improvements, including in milk feeding and earlier detection and treatment of cases, led to improvements in DLWGs in calves.

Colleague Martha Twist’s case, about a 320-strong cross-bred grazing herd, was second in the competition, resulting in a €2,000 prize, while Esperanza Rodriguez from Spain came third, winning €1,000.

From left: Boehringer Ingelheim’s Matt Yarnall, with head judge Sabrina Elisa Bertani, winner Rebecca Price and Jonathan Statham of Raft Solutions.