The Angus Journal® is a monthly magazine known for in-depth coverage of American Angus Association® programs and services; the Angus business; herd management; and advertising reflecting genetics and herd philosophies.
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190 n ANGUSJournal n March 2017 Thinking Physiologically I f you're a cattle producer, you've practiced the drill a thousand times: It's spring, and calving season is here. Chances are, you've seen a few calves hit the ground. You prepare for it every year, and you feel like you've mastered the art pretty well. Still, year after year, there's something you wish you would have done differently. Three core principles can help the success of your calving endeavors this spring: Get them breathing, keep them warm, and give them colostrum. Chilly calves Cold stress is "additive to the basic things that happen to baby calves anyway," says Frank Garry, Extension veterinarian for Colorado State University (CSU). "That's true if it's 40 [degrees Fahrenheit (F)] or if it's zero. It just gets more pronounced." He stresses to producers that calving should never be taken for granted, regardless of the temperature or environment, but there are extra precautions that can be taken during cold weather that can help reduce complications and death in newborn calves. "There's a whole management issue to coast into preparing for calving time," he says, including having heifers and cows well- prepared, and bulls selected. Still, he asks producers, now that your cows are calving, "What are you going to do?" Garry reminds producers to pay special attention to cows and calves that experienced dystocia during the birthing process. "Calves with dystocia have a special liability in addition to the stress of being born, and all calves born in a cold environment have a special liability," he says. Calves born in dystocia or in really cold weather, "now you really need to up the ante." Big changes "The process of being born is a crazy intense thing," says Garry, who specializes in a variety of disease, mortality, education and management practices in cattle. "It's the biggest single transition an animal ever makes in its entire life until it dies." The process of being born is "a really unique thing" because the calf must transition from an environment where its every need is met, to the cold, harsh outside world. "In utero, a calf doesn't worry about the temperature or the weather or nutrition or oxygen supply because those things are dealt with," he says. "Mom takes care of every bit of that, and then, in a very short period of time, the calf goes from being inside the uterus to the very difficult process of being born. Therefore, at the time it's born, everything has to change in a really radical fashion." When a calf is born, "Every single organ system is in awesome flux," Garry says. "The calf 's never used its neurologic system before. It's never used its musculoskeletal system. It's never had to breathe on its own. Its entire cardiovascular system has to adapt. Its metabolism has to change. It's gone from an anabolic state, where it's growing all the time, to suddenly, in literally minutes, it has to change that process to say, 'You're done storing energy; now you've got to use the energy.' " Controlled by "hormones, circumstances and physiological parameters," the changes calves undergo immediately after birth are extreme and quick. "What I try to get producers to think about is that even at a non-medical level, these things make sense," Garry says. He compares the physiological changes undergone by calves being born to a human leaving a swimming pool. "Even when you get out [of a swimming pool] on a nice, 70° day, you chill out really fast," he says. "So what do you do? You towel off, because if you don't, you start shivering. Calves that aren't breathing don't shiver well because they don't have enough oxygen." Garry points out that almost all of the physiological happenings are intertwined. If one thing fails, it makes all these other things fail, too, he says. If a calf is strong and robust in one area, it can overcome the liability in another organ system. If the calf breathes well, the abundance of oxygen can generate more energy, giving the calf greater muscular capability and making it stronger. Conversely, he says, a calf that suffers from dystocia or is Know calf physiology to avoid compromised newborns this spring. by Shelby Mettlen, assistant editor PHOTO BY KASSIDY BREMER FROM 2015 NJAA/ANGUS JOURNAL PHOTO CONTEST