Efficiency of different drying methods for newborn calves

Abstract

The development and application of modern technological methods of rearing, as well as the improvement and introduction into the production of new devices for servicing calves, is one of the main directions for further improving the technologies for keeping dairy cattle and increasing milk production. The work aimed to intensify the milk production of red dairy cows by enhancing the technological methods of maintenance and growing replacement heifers. The authors have made an experimental sample for the scientific and economic experiments. The device (box) was tested on calves, and the modes of drying the surface of their body from amniotic fluid and mucus were optimised. The parameters of its practical operation were established. The use of the proposed device for warming and drying newborn calves makes it possible to reduce the physical labour costs of operators for servicing newborn calves, especially those born weak and with low viability, to reduce their incidence of respiratory infectious diseases by 10–20%, to reduce the cost of medicines, and to minimise the level of stress load on newborns, which contributes to the preservation of their physical strength in the first hours after birth and intensifies growth, development and payment for feed by gains in live weight during the milk growing period. The studies have established that these technological solutions in cultivating replacement heifers contribute to increased product characteristics.