Newborn Calf Care: The First 30 Days

Quick answer

A calf's first 30 days decide a lot about its health later on. Get enough good colostrum into it within the first one to two hours and dip the navel. Keep it warm and dry in clean housing without draughts. Feed milk or milk replacer the same way every time, and put out water and calf starter from the first week. Check every calf twice a day. Call a vet quickly for weakness, scours with dehydration, fast breathing or a swollen navel.

Day 0: the first hours

Make sure the calf breathes and gets up

Once the calf is out, clear mucus from the nose and mouth if it needs it. A healthy calf usually lifts its head within minutes, sits up on its breastbone soon after and is standing within about an hour. If a calf is limp, cold or not trying to get up after a hard birth, it needs help and a vet's advice.

Colostrum: the single most important job

Calves are born with almost no antibodies. Their early immunity comes from colostrum, the cow's first milk, and the gut can only absorb those antibodies for a short window after birth.

• Timing: first feed within 1–2 hours, and certainly within 6 hours.
• Amount: a commonly used guide is about 10% of the calf's birth weight in the first feed, for example roughly 3–4 litres (about 3–4 US quarts) for a 35–40 kg (77–88 lb) calf. Smaller breeds need proportionally less. Giving a second feed within about 12 hours is common practice.
• Quality: first-milking colostrum from a healthy, mature cow is best. Thick, creamy colostrum is a rough sign of quality, and dairy farms may test it with a colostrum meter or refractometer.
• If the calf will not suckle: guide it to the teat or feed it by bottle. If it still won't drink, a vet or trained person can tube-feed it. Don't tube-feed unless you've been trained, because fluid in the lungs can kill.

Never hold back or throw away the first milk. Some places still do this because of old beliefs.

Navel care

Until it dries, the navel is an open door for infection. Soon after birth, dip or spray it with the disinfectant your vet recommends, and repeat as advised. Keep the calf on clean, dry bedding.

Identification and records

Tag or mark the calf. Write down its birth date, dam, sex, birth weight if you can, how and when it got colostrum, and any trouble at the birth.

Days 1 to 7: settling in

Feeding milk

Whether the calf suckles its dam or gets whole milk or milk replacer:

• Consistency matters: same times, same temperature (around body temperature), same amount and mix at every feed.
• Amount: a common guide is around 10–20% of body weight per day, split into two or more feeds. Many advisers now lean towards the higher end for better growth and health. Ask your vet or adviser what fits your system.
• Hygiene: wash bottles, buckets and teats after every feed.
• Milk replacer: mix it exactly as the label says. Too strong or too weak can bring on scours.

Water and starter

From the first days, give clean, fresh water in a separate container from the milk, along with a small handful of fresh calf starter. Throw out uneaten starter every day and put down fresh.

Housing

• Clean, dry, deep bedding the calf can nestle into
• Good ventilation without draughts at calf level
• Shade and airflow in hot weather; extra bedding or calf jackets in cold weather
• Individual pens, or small groups of similar age, with no nose-to-nose contact with older cattle

Days 8 to 30: growth and watchfulness

As the calf eats more starter, increase it gradually, and start offering small amounts of good-quality roughage. Weigh or measure the calf if you can so you know it's growing.

If you disbud, it's best done early, by a trained person, with pain relief as your vet advises. For vaccinations and parasite control, follow your vet's plan, which will depend on the diseases in your area.

Above all, keep watching for the two big problems at this age: scours and pneumonia.

Daily calf check

Common problems

Scours (calf diarrhoea)

Scours makes more young calves ill, and kills more of them, than anything else. It can come from infections (bacteria, viruses, parasites such as cryptosporidium) or from feeding mistakes. What kills is dehydration. A vet will usually advise keeping up milk feeds where possible and giving oral electrolyte solution between them to put back fluid and salts. Badly affected calves may need fluids from a vet. Follow your vet's advice on any medicine.

Pneumonia

Pneumonia often goes with poor ventilation, draughts, damp bedding, overcrowding, mixing ages and weak immunity from poor colostrum. Look for fever, coughing, nasal discharge, fast breathing and droopy ears. The sooner a vet treats it, the better.

Navel ill and joint ill

When infection gets in through the navel, the navel swells and hurts, and the infection can move into the joints, which swell and make the calf lame. Clean calving areas, navel dipping and good colostrum prevent it.

When to see a vet

Call a vet promptly if a calf:

• Will not stand or suckle, or is cold to the touch
• Has scours with sunken eyes, dry mouth or skin that stays tented when pinched
• Has blood in its droppings
• Breathes fast or with effort, coughs repeatedly, or has a fever
• Has a swollen, hot or smelly navel, or swollen joints
• Becomes suddenly dull, bloated or stops drinking
• Was born after a long, difficult calving and seems weak

In Pakistan

Many calves in Pakistan, buffalo calves especially, die in their first weeks. Often the colostrum came late or there wasn't enough of it, or the calves were kept on damp, dirty floors. It's common to cut back the calf's milk so more can be sold, and that leaves calves weak, so feed enough to keep them growing. Summer heat and monsoon damp both push up scours and pneumonia. Put shade, airflow and dry bedding first. Your district veterinary hospital can advise on vaccines and calf health. For choosing a dairy breed, see Best Dairy Cattle Breeds for Hot Climates, and for overall herd basics, see Raising Cattle, Goats and Sheep.

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