Development of a newborn calf vigor scoring system

Murray-Kerr, Christine F.; Leslie, K.E.; Godden, Sandra; Knauer, W. A.; McGuirk, Sheila M.

doi:10.21423/aabppro20183216

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Several criteria were used to select the calves in the current work. First, the herd veterinarian examined the health status of each calf at birth using the vigor scoring system [46]. Calves with good (score 21-22) or higher vigor [very good (score [23][24][25] or excellent (score 26-27)] scores were selected to enroll in the study.…”

Section: Animals Treatment Groups and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transition milk or milk replacer powder as waste milk supplements to cold-stressed neonatal Holstein dairy calves: Effects on performance, feeding behavior, and health

Moradi,

Kargar,

Kanani

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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Young calves are more susceptible to cold than older animals due to their limited ability to regulate body temperature and lack of fat reserves and may have difficulty consuming the energy needed to cope with the cold by maintaining body temperature and meeting their metabolic needs, especially when fed constant levels of waste milk (WM) with less solids, which can be detrimental to health and future performance. An alternative to overcome this problem is increasing the milk’s solids content to the existing volume by using different sources [milk replacer powder (MR) or transition milk (TM)]. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the effects of increasing the total solids of WM via MR (WM+MR) or TM (WM+TM) on the performance, feeding behavior, and health-related variables of cold-stressed dairy calves during pre- and post-weaning. We hypothesized that feeding WM supplemented with MR or TM as potential liquid feed enhancers would improve milk dry matter and energy intake of the calves with a positive impact on body development and have no negative impact on feeding behavior and health. Additionally, we hypothesized that MR would not differ from TM. As a sample size calculation at 80% power using power analysis (PROC POWER) in SAS 9.4, a total of 51 Holstein-Friesian vigorous male calves [vigor score 21–27; 17 per treatment; 4-d old; body weight (BW) = 40.0 ± 0.63 kg (mean ± SD)] were selected, assigned randomly to treatments, and housed in individual pens in an outdoor barn. Irrespective of the type of treatment, all calves were fed 6 kg/d liquid feed from d 1 to d 53 of the experiment. In a step-down weaning program, calves received 0.5 kg liquid feed from d 54 to d 60. All calves were weaned on d 61 and remained in the study until d 101 as post-weaning evaluation. The calves had ad libitum access to starter feed and fresh drinking water across the experiment. Intake, growth, and behavior data were analyzed using a general linear mixed model and health data were analyzed using mixed logistic regression, mixed linear regression, and survival analysis models in SAS. We found that supplementation was responsible for a greater dry matter intake (DMI; P = 0.004), superior average BW (P = 0.037), and increased crude protein (CP; P = 0.001) and crude fat (CF; P = 0.001) intakes, with the most favorable outcomes observed for the WM+TM group when compared with WM+MR. Animals fed WM (control group; CON) showed a smaller average daily gain during the first 40-d of life (P = 0.026), showing slight changes during the whole period of evaluation when compared with the supplemented groups (SUP; WM+MR and WM+TM). No difference between MR- and TM-SUP groups, probability of having abnormal appearance (P = 0.032) and pneumonia occurrence (P = 0.022) was reduced in the SUP than in CON animals, with no effect on diarrhea among treatment groups (P = 0.461). Using milk supplements added to WM is an alternative to improve the intake, performance, and health of young calves under cold stress. Our findings showed that SUP animals outperformed the CON group in terms of DMI, average BW, and intake of CP and CF, with the TM-SUP group displaying the most favorable outcomes. Moreover, the SUP groups demonstrated reduced odds of experiencing abnormal appearance and pneumonia, highlighting the positive impact of supplementation on calf health.

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Section: Animals Treatment Groups and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transition milk or milk replacer powder as waste milk supplements to cold-stressed neonatal Holstein dairy calves: Effects on performance, feeding behavior, and health

Moradi,

Kargar,

Kanani

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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“…Adoption of parameters proposed by Mee [ 24 ] led to creation of a different score than the modified APGAR score. This score was developed at the University of Guelph (Guelph-ON-Canada), and it was called Calf VIGOR Score [ 40 ]. In this case, the word VIGOR is also an acronym: V—visual appearance; I—initiation of movement; G—general responsiveness; O—oxygenation; and R—rates.…”

Section: Viability Scoresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Scoring Systems in the Newborn Calf: An Overview

Probo

Veronesi

2022

Animals

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A scoring system is an instrument that enables the scorers, including farmers, technicians, and veterinarians, to adopt a systematic approach for diagnosis or monitoring, as it decreases bias and confounding and increases objectivity. Practically, it is a number assigned to a patient that correlates with a probability that a diagnosis can be confirmed or that a specific outcome will follow. This article examines the clinical scores designed or adapted to bovine medicine that aim to assess newborn calf viability and to diagnose and monitor neonatal calf diarrhea and respiratory diseases, helping the clinician promptly recognize calves needing medical assistance. Despite the large number of clinical scores described in the literature, these are still barely used in farm animal practice; possibly, the complexity of the scores and missing recommendations for intervention are reasons for their lack of popularity as well as the crosswise lack of consistency among scores designed for the same purpose. Further research is needed in this regard to increase scores validation and encourage their application in bovine calf neonatology.

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