124
Mortality in Young Calves in India
down if the rain happens to be heavy during the monsoon. Buffaloes stay out in paddocks. There
is one cement wallow on the farm for the buffaloes, and through this they are passed once daily
throughout the year in lots of 150 every 10 minutes, at 8 a.m. for the milking herd and at 1-30 p.m.
for the dry herd. After wallowing, the-buffaloes are taken to a water trough where their udders are
washed, and then to the milking shed. Milking is at midnight and 10 a.m., heavy milkers are also
milked at 5 p.m. Of the cow herd, some 33 to 35 per cent are dry at one time.
Calf husbandry. The chief calving season for cows is September-December and for buffaloes
July-September. As a rule, female calves only are kept, the males being slaughtered weekly ; with
buffaloes, undersized females or females from low yielders (below 3,500-4,000 lb. per annum) are also
not kept. The mean weight at birth is 59 lb. for cow calves and 62 lb. for buffaloes. Calves are
weaned at birth and fed from a bucket with colostrum of the dam which is milked f
our
thrice daily during the first three days. Colostrum is fed at 1. lb. per 10 lb. body weight fte
colostral period the calves are put on a definite ration schedule, which is not given in detail here
which involves the usual replacement of whole milk by skim and concentrates (gram, wheat bran.
crushed cake—mostly groundnut). These replacements are offered from the fourth week, though the
calves will not consume all the concentrates till the sixth week, while fodder is given from the fifth
week. Feeding is thrice daily to the seventh day. then twice. With regard to housing, the calves
are penned in three groups : from birth up to three months, from three to six months, and from six
to twelve months. Up to 1941, all cow calves were kept in an enclosure, 40 ft. square, holding 15-20
calves and with an ordinary open shed. In 1941, a new shed was built for the youngest calves with
floor ventilation screened to prevent direct draught. This shed is 25 ft. square, faces south and stands
in an enclosure 81× 48 ft. Its roof is of corrugated iron, with walls 15 in. thick. Calves always
have access to the shed, in which they are shut up at night. Any calves noticed to be sick are removed
to isolation.
Birth and mortality rates
In Table I are shown the birth and gross mortality-rates by months in female calves, cow and
buffalo, up to one year of age for the periods 1938-44 and 1939-44, respectively. Fig. 1 shows
the data by years. Table II gives an analysis for the period 1939-43 and for cow calves in respect
of the incidence and death-rate from respiratory disease ; the totals are shown graphically in Fig. 2.
Table III shows the supposed cause of death and age at death of female cow and buffalo calves during
the period 1938-44.
Cow calves. Of 599 females born during the seven-year period the mean percentage death-rate-
was 26.5 (range 14.7—42.4). The mortality was higher from October to March than at other times,
the maximum figure being 13.2 per cent in February ; at best, the monthly mortality rarely fell below
5 per cent. The mean percentage of winter deaths is significantly higher than that of summer deaths.
As to the causes of this high death-rate, it is seen from Table III that pneumonia was responsible for
58.4 per cent of the deaths and intestinal troubles for 19.5 per cent and this difference is found to be
highly significant. If pneumonia and the condition diagnosed as 'septicaemia' are combined, the
figures becomes 68.1 per cent and the difference is of course still more significant.
The analysis of respiratory disease on this farm, set out in Table II, shows that of 422 females
born over 40 per cent developed some respiratory trouble as indicated by cough, about 27 per cent
showed clinical signs of pneumonia and 16 per cent died of this disease. A large proportion of the
calves which coughed developed pneumonia. while the death-rate in the pneumonia cases reached
61 per cent in spite of some sulphonamide treatment. Again it is quite evident from Table II and
Fig. 2 that the respiratory troubles were mainly confined to the ' winter' months (October to March),
the difference between the mean percentages of winter deaths and summer deaths being highly signi-
ficant.
Most of the deaths in cow calves both from pncumonia and intestinal disturbances were in the
second month of life (Table III).