Morbidity and mortality in Holstein calves from birth to 145 days of age on a large dairy farm in Brazil

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the morbidity and mortality associated with the most common diseases during the rearing period of Holstein calves in a high-production dairy farm. The calves (n = 600) were allocated to three groups based on age: G1 (1–7 days, n = 216), G2 (30–40 days, n = 188), and G3 (69–85 days, n = 196). They were evaluated over 60 days at eight different times. The morbidity rates were 47.67% (286/600) for diarrhea, 73.00% (438/600) for bovine respiratory disease (BRD), and 3.83% (23/600) for umbilical inflammation (UI). The mortality rate was 2.33% (14/600) for all the animals studied. The morbidity differed in the groups, with higher rates of diarrhea (78.85%, 166/216) and UI (6.94%, 15/216) in G1, and the highest rate of BRD in G3 (79.59%, 156/196). Diarrhea was associated with the occurrence of BRD in G1 and G2. Even in farms with good management practices, there is high morbidity associated with diarrhea and BRD, with the morbidity rate for diarrhea decreasing and that for BRD increasing as the animals get older. In addition, diarrhea is an important risk factor for BRD, especially in younger animals.