Skip to main content
PMC home page
Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica logoLink to Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica
. 1993 Sep 1;34(3):263–269. doi: 10.1186/BF03548190

Calf Diseases and Mortality in Swedish Dairy Herds

S-O Olsson 15,25,✉, S Viring 15,25, U Emanuelsson 15,25, S-O Jacobsson 15,25
PMCID: PMC8112503  PMID: 8310899

Abstract

Olsson, S.-O., S. Viring, U. Emanuelson and S.-O. Jacobsson: Calf diseases and mortality in Swedish dairy herds. Acta vet. Scand. 1993,34, 263-269.– A survey of the mortality and morbidity affecting calves during the first 3 months of life was carried out. Results are reported from 131 herds with altogether 5,050 calvings. These herds kept individual calf cards for all calves born. The incidences of abortions and stillborn calves were 0.6% and 3.6%, respectively. During the period 0-90 days the mortality and morbidity were 2.6% and 11.0%, respectively. The frequencies of enteritis and pneumonia in calves were 7.2% and 0.8%. Mortality and morbidity were influenced by breed, season, age of the dam and time of first colostrum. The frequencies of abortions, stillborn calves, mortality and morbidity varied considerably between herds. Herd factors influencing mortality and morbidity during different periods of time were: herd size, yield, zero-grazing, whether the calf was allowed to feed by suckling, the design of the calf pens, and previous incidence of infectious enteritis in the herd. On average, both mortality and morbidity in calves were low, though in certain herds, temporarily high frequencies were registered.

Keywords: morbidity, enteritis, pneumonia, predisposing factors

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.7 MB).

Acknowledgments

The cooperation of practising veterinarians and animal health veterinarians in the trial areas is greatly appreciated. This work was made possible by funding from the Farmers’ Research Council for Information and Development.

References

  1. Anonymous: Swedish Association for Livestock Breeding and Production 1987/88 and 1989/90. Annual statistics. Publ. No. 159 and 167, respectively. (In Swedish.) Svensk Husdjursskötsel. Årsstatistik 1987/88 och 1989/90. Meddelande nr 159 resp. 167.
  2. Bakheit HA, Greene HJ. Control of bovine neonatal diarrhoea by management techniques. Vet. Rec. 1981;108:455–458. doi: 10.1136/vr.108.21.455. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Blom JY. The relationship between serum immunoglobulin values and incidence of respiratory disease and enteritis in calves. Nord. Vet. Med. 1982;34:276–284. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Curtis CR, Erb HN, White ME. Descriptive epidemiology of calfhood morbidity and mortality in New York Holstein herds. Prev. Vet. Med. 1988;5:293–307. doi: 10.1016/0167-5877(88)90015-3. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  5. Ekesbo I. Disease incidence in tied and loose housed dairy cattle. Acta agric. scand. 1966;15:22–23. [Google Scholar]
  6. Hartman DA, Everett RW, Slack ST, Warner RG. Calf mortality. J. Dairy Sci. 1974;57:576–578. doi: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(74)84936-2. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  7. Jenny BF, Gramling GE, Glaze TM. Management factors associated with calf mortality in South Carolina dairy herds. J. Dairy Sci. 1981;64:2284–2289. doi: 10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(81)82843-3. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  8. Lee ET: Statistical methods for survival data analysis. Lifetime Learning Publications 1980, Belmont, Calif., USA, 557 pp.
  9. Leeck FB, Macrase WD, Menzies DW. Calf wastage and husbandry in Britain 1962-63. Animal disease surveys. London: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; 1968. p. 59. [Google Scholar]
  10. Lindhé B. Studier over frekvensen dödfödda och misskildade kalver inom svenska nötkrea-turerne. Svensk Husdjurskötsel. 1967. [Google Scholar]
  11. Norman JA. The housing of young cattle. Vet. Rec. 1969;85:429–432. doi: 10.1136/vr.85.16.429. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Olsson S-O, Elvander M: Abortions in Swedish dairy cattle 1986-1988. Unpublished data.
  13. Roy JHB. The calf; Management of health. London: Butter-worths; 1990. [Google Scholar]
  14. SAS Institute Inc.: SUGI Supplemental Library User’s Guide, 1983 edition. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA, 402 pp.
  15. SAS Institute Inc.: SAS User’s Guide: Statistics, 1985 version, 3rd Edition. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA, 956 pp.
  16. Simensen E. An epidemiological study of calf health and performance in Norwegian dairy herds. Acta agric. scand. 1982;32:411–419. doi: 10.1080/00015128209435340. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  17. Viring S, Olsson SO, Alenius S, Emanuelson U, Jacobsson SO, Larsson B, Linde N, Uggla A. Studies of enteric pathogens and immunoglobulin levels of neonatal calves in Sweden. Acta.vet. scand. 1993;34:261–269. doi: 10.1186/BF03548191. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica are provided here courtesy of BMC

RESOURCES