Precision animal care vital to farm success
As a matter of economy, Francisco Leal Yepes, DVM, Ph.D., and assistant professor of ambulatory and production medicine in Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, believes more farmers need to raise their own replacements and pay more attention to their herd’s health.
“Heifer supplies are at their lowest in decades in the U.S. and calf prices are going through the roof – $1,000 to $1,600 for one-day-old calves,” he said as part of “Research in Precision Livestock Health” as part of the College of Veterinarian Medicine’s “Boots in the Barn” webinar series. “It’s driving the market to the extreme so we are looking at solutions to improve the health of these animals.”
A springer heifer may fetch $4,000.
“We’re trying to come up with solutions to help producers to improve the health of these replacements,” Yepes said.
He’s studied the effects of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) supplementation on plasma amino acids and the growth of pre-weaning calves.
“Protein is essential for supporting overall health, growth and muscle development in dairy calves,” he said. “Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and are crucial for calf nutrition. Amino acid requirements are especially important during the pre-weaning and post-weaning periods. Branched-chain amino acids valine, leucine and isoleucine are essential for dairy cattle. Branched-chain amino acids make up 50% of the essential amino acids present in cow’s milk.”
At weaning, calves lose the amino acids inherent to milk. Yepes said his team is researching supplementation and found that “this could mean increased absorption in the GI. Around weaning, it helped prevent the weight slump when transitioning from liquid to solid. Feed efficiency in branched amino group was higher than the control group.”
He added, “BCAA supplementation in dairy calves during the pre-weaning and weaning periods may help maintain or increase average daily gain during the transition from milk to solid diets.”
Yepes is planning larger studies to compare to the findings of this pilot study. In another study, Yepes is looking at the rates of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in post-weaning calves using group housing vs. hutches.
Calves with BRD can affect milk production and affect the cost of production for dairy farmers, Yepes said.
His findings indicate that heat stress and cold stress were affecting these animals. Providing the appropriate shelter can improve calf health.
Diagnosing respiratory disease in dairy calves through lung ultrasonography may also help farmers keep their herds healthier. Yepes said a recent Cornell study he’s involved with shows that lung ultrasonography is “a valuable tool for diagnosing pneumonia in calves, allowing early detection and prompt treatment; however, despite its value, the technique is not yet fully established as routine on farms, as it is time-consuming and requires special equipment and a skilled, well-trained professional to interpret the results.”
A standardized way to interpret images will help more farmers leverage the technology as a diagnostic tool.
“We need to try to help practitioners in the field, especially if you’re not experienced or assigned to use this tool,” Yepes said. “We’re hoping this will be useful for dairy farmers in the future to improve the health of their calves and replacements.”
Yepes also spoke about methane measurement to obtain green credits. In a study on improving cattle health and climate resiliency of dairy farms, researchers found that measuring methane on a dairy farm is “very expensive and not everyone has access to it” (referring to the measuring equipment).
“We tried to add a few sensors to measure methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide in the feed bunk, free-stall beds and some other areas,” Yepes said. Such sensitive equipment isn’t usually meant for rugged conditions.
“A dairy farm is not a clean environment so it will get clogged regularly,” Yepes said.
Cattle are curious and like to check out equipment. There’s also wind and weather exposure that can potentially damage equipment. Most farms have limited access to single-phase power outlets in places where his team would like to place such instruments. Many farms also have weak signal strength for connectivity. Using solar panels may not work as well because of dust accumulation and, in some areas, snow.
He hopes that someday farmers can access equipment that is practical to use in the field as the team continues to work on development.
The initial findings indicate that methane could have strong correlation with temperature.
Yepes also discussed research about milk fatty acids as markers of enteric methane emissions. Sixteen multiparous cows were examined in the animal respiration chambers at the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. All the enrolled cows were mid-lactation. Two days after arrival, the cows were allowed to acclimate in the chambers for two hours before testing and remained in tie-stalls (with exercise periods) for 14 days. The cows received a typical TMR daily.
“When you break it down into specific fatty acids, you can see there are some with almost 70% correlation with methane production,” Yepes said. “This study shows that MFA profiles could be a cost-effective indicator of enteric emissions from dairy cows. Fatty acids like C6:0, C8:0 and C140 and iso C17:0 may be of particular interest when directly assessing individual dairy cow enteric CH4 production.
“Milk fatty acids have strong positive and negative relationships and will be useful when developing and refining formulas to estimate enteric emissions in farm models seeking to support whole-farm analyses.
“This hopefully will help them enter the carbon market or guide them with interventions that will help them in the market,” Yepes said.
