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Reduction in morbidity and mortality of dairy calves from an injectable trace mineral supplement
Author(s) -
Bates Andrew,
Wells Matt,
Laven Richard Anthony,
Simpson Meg
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
veterinary record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.261
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 2042-7670
pISSN - 0042-4900
DOI - 10.1136/vr.105082
Subject(s) - medicine , zoology , mortality rate , confounding , birth weight , surgery , veterinary medicine , pregnancy , biology , genetics
The effect of a multimineral preparation on the health and growth of spring born, dairy calves was investigated on four New Zealand pastoral farms. Calves were randomly allocated injections within 24 hours of birth, 35 days and 70 days after birth. Injections contained 40 mg zinc, 10 mg manganese, 5 mg selenium, 15 mg copper and 5 mg chromium per ml (Multimin+Se+ Cu+Cr Cattle, Virbac South Africa) at 1 ml/50 kg body weight. Morbidity, mortality from natural challenge and growth rates were recorded for 140 days. There were no differences in morbidity and mortality within 48 hours of birth for treated calves compared with controls, P=0.192. Morbidity and mortality were highest at 3–35 days (7.5 per cent [95 per cent CI 5.00 to 9.99] treated calves sick and 15.6 per cent [95 per cent CI 12.48 to 18.73] controls sick, P<0.001). For this period, mortality was lower at 4.4 per cent (95 per cent CI 2.49 to 6.41) treated calves and 10.4 per cent (95 per cent CI 7.78 to 13.03) controls, P<0.001. Allowing for potential confounders, the adjusted OR of treated calves scouring between 3 and 35 days was 0.44 (95 per cent CI 0.24 to 0.82, P=0.009). Allowing for potential confounders, from 0 to 140 days a second model predicted treatment approximately halved the probability of morbidity and mortality (P<0.001). There was no difference in the daily rate of gain (0.67 kg/day [95 per cent CI 0.66 to 0.67] for treated calves).