On many farms, straw appears to be in short supply and using calf jackets may help some farmers to overcome this challenge.
Calf jackets are becoming more common on Irish dairy farms, but colder temperatures during the rearing period below the ideal level for calf growth.
For calves to maximise their growth potential, an air temperature of between 15-20° in the shed is required.
Being that the majority of calves will be reared during the months of January, February and March, this will be impossible to achieve.
Straw
Usually, providing calves with a deep bed of straw which allows them to nest helps to prevent calves from diverting energy from growth.
If the air temperature is too cold and calves are unable to nest in the straw, they will direct energy from growth into maintaining body temperature.
As already stated, many farms are struggling to get enough straw to ensure that adequate amounts will be available throughout the calving and rearing period.
The advice from the Animal Health Ireland (AHI) CalfCare events was to prioritise the youngest calves when it came to straw.
It was also suggested that wood chip could be used under the straw to keep it drier for longer.
Calf jackets
The jackets themselves are quite a reasonable price, with them being washable and re-useable.
Although there is no evidence to prove that calves perform better in jackets, speaking with the farmers that use them – they seem to think there is a slight improvement in calf performance.
If a calf is cold, more energy will be diverted to maintaining temperature and away from growth. This may be the reason why farmers who use calf jackets can see a difference in growth.
There is no set time on how long jackets should be place on calves, but it is important that you check and adjust them regularly to ensure the calf still has room and that they aren’t sweating under the jacket.
When using jackets, it is important that they are washed between calves, as putting a dirty jacket on a calf could increase the risk of spreading disease.
Older calves have a higher tolerance against bacteria and disease, moving a jacket from them to a young calf could result in them becoming sick.