What’s Happening Episode #01 – Pellet Quality

Today’s photo was from a dairy farm in Indiana in the United States in about 2016.  The farm is just north of the city of Indianapolis… which is here…

The calf in the photo was born about an hour before the picture was taken, and this worker was moving it to a hutch to feed colostrum and put it under a heat lamp.  Now, wherever I go, the wheelbarrow used to transport calves is almost always called a taxi, so today, we’ll talk about taxis.

Hey Taxi!  Taxi!!!

No… not that kind of taxi…this kind.   The calf taxi. So… what’s happening with the calf taxi?  

The issue with this particular taxi is cleanliness.  It’s clear from the photo that the taxi hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. There was a buildup of dirt and probably manure inside.  This taxi may have been used for purposes other than moving calves. 

This is big problem.  Remember these calves typically aren’t fed colostrum prior to transport and are extremely sensitive to whatever they first come into contact with.    

Here are a couple of nice taxis on dairy farms in China.  They’re made of stainless steel and are intentionally cleaned after each use.  Stainless is much easier to keep clean compared to typical plastic taxis as we see here in three photos taken on farms in the United States and in Europe.  Over time, the plastic will become damaged and impossible to properly sanitize, as in the photo on the right.

On a couple of farms in New York state in the United States, producers use sleds to move calves from the maternity area.  The one on the left is much preferable to the one on the right.

And finally, here are a few other methods to transport calves, taken on farms in China and Brazil.  None of these is really optimal to minimize the risk of infection of the newborns.

So… What’s happening?  What gets to the intestine first determines, in large part, whether the calf gets sick or stays healthy… the bacteria, or the immunoglobulins from colostrum.  The taxi can be a source of contamination for calves, especially those without colostrum.

Here are a few resources regarding the importance of cleanliness in the calving area and transporting calves, if you’d like to go deeper into the topic.  Feel free to stop the video and scan the QR code to follow the URL.

Calf Note number 11 discusses the importance of early colostrum feeding. Here’s a nice article about newborn calf care from Michigan State University. And finally, a deeper dive into newborn calf care from Ireland.

Remember, calves crave cleanliness, especially right after birth!

Paying attention to the details, like keeping a clean taxi, pays dividends.  Think of giving your calves the “white glove” treatment when transporting them.  While they may not leave you a tip, they’ll thank you with good health.  That’ll do it for today.  Thanks for watching and see you next time!

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