The use of antibiotics in rearing preweaned calves has changed considerably in recent decades. Many operations are relying less on antibiotics today to keep their calves healthy. Some of that reduction has been due to regulation, and some by intentional management strategy.

This shift poses the question: “Can we be med-free?” Or, more specifically, “Can we raise calves without antibiotics entirely?”

When I started my career nearly 20 years ago, I worked on a single-dairy Idaho calf ranch with 100 calves in hutches that were fed pasteurized hospital milk. We were fighting all kinds of disease, and both morbidity and mortality were through the roof.

At the same time, the owners wanted to expand because the dairy was growing. We knew we had to make some drastic changes because what we were doing clearly wasn’t working and would likely be even worse with more calves in our care.

Working with our veterinarian, we switched from the hospital milk to non-medicated calf milk replacer. The vet also trained us to take calves’ temperatures and administer IV fluids and advised us to manage calf health proactively with colostrum delivery, a sanitary environment, early disease detection, and fluid therapy via oral electrolytes and IV lactated ringers and bicarb.

Injectable antibiotics were to be used only as a last resort.

In less than a year, we grew to 400 calves in hutches managed by just me and one other person. Basically, I cleaned all day, every day, and followed our vet’s advice on preventative health and fluid therapy. Our death loss dropped from well over 10% to just 0.2%, with virtually no injectable antibiotics.

When we later moved to group housing, we were much better equipped to make that transition, because our calf health program was solid. Everyone on our team was trained to closely observe changes to calves’ eyes, ears, nose, disposition and body temperature, with generous fluid therapy as our first defense. We had a larger crew managing 1,800 calves, and would generally give about one shot of antibiotic a day.

Now as a Strauss Feeds representative, I get to visit many other calf operations, and I see a wider range of antibiotic use. When I see farms struggling with disease, I try to help them focus on the basics, like:

• Colostrum quality and delivery

• Monitoring total proteins

• Ensuring that the right cleaning and sanitizing agents are used correctly

• Cleaning or replacing esophageal feeders

• Dipping umbilical cords

• Replacing bedding more frequently

• Improving nutrient intake by altering the nutrient density of the liquid ration, changing solids, or increasing milk or milk replacer intake

• Feeding transition milk or a transition-milk simulation via milk replacer

• Pushing fluids versus antibiotics

With these measures in place, they almost certainly will see marked improvements in calf health, which saves them money in calf performance, labor, and medication costs. The most successful operations view $3.00-4.00/dose for electrolytes as a bargain compared to $6.00-10.00/shot for antibiotics.

And think of it this way – if you were sick with the flu and went to the emergency room, the first thing they would probably do is give you IV fluids, not a prescription for antibiotics. Depending on the causative organism – whether it’s you or a calf that is sick – antibiotics may not be effective at all, but supportive fluid therapy is never a wrong choice.

Now that fewer options are available for adding antibiotics to milk replacer, many calf raisers note they have become more dialed into the other factors that are necessary to keep their calves healthy. Without the “blanket” protection – either real or perceived – of a medicated milk replacer, calf managers are able to better assess the true health of their calves and identify the management areas that influence it.

That being said, there are still incidences in which we need antibiotic therapy for calves, whether in the milk replacer or injected. In those instances, I’m glad we still have access to the drugs we need. Even in organic operations, antibiotics sometimes are necessary, in which case the animals are then moved out of the organic production system.

So, to answer, “Can we be med-free?” I would argue that we can almost be there, with very minimal use of antibiotics to treat very select cases. The rest of the calves will benefit more from all of the measures that prevent us from having to use more antibiotics.

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