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Utilising infra-red thermography to evaluate rumen development in dairy youngstock
Britten, N.; Hopper, R.; Pearce, G.
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Objectives: Timing of weaning is a critical issue for the efficient management of dairy youngstock. Successful transition to a solid diet as soon as possible provides economic advantages due to the high cost of milk or milk replacer products when compared with solid foods. However, successful transition to a solid diet requires sufficient ruminal function to be present before weaning off milk. Accurate determination of ruminal development in calves is therefore an important measure in calf management. Calves with increased solid feed consumption, and therefore more rumen development before weaning show greater weight gain postweaning (1). Currently available rumen function evaluation methods involve direct sampling of rumen fluid or tissue which is both costly and invasive. Infra-red thermography of the left flank has been used to quantify rumen activity in adult cattle with flank temperatures rising 21% after feeding due to increased heat production through fermentation (2). This study evaluated the use of flank temperature to measure rumen function over time in calves between 6 and 105 days of age.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in 30 Holstein heifer calves born over a 3-month period at Cambridge University Farm, UK. Calves were housed in individual pens immediately after birth and bottle fed 3l of milk replacer twice daily for one week. Calves were then moved to group housing at an average age of 10±4 days and fed 8l milk replac- er per day by free access to a machine feeder (Vario Smart Feeder, Volac) for 40 days before beginning a reduction of 0.5l/day until complete weaning at 56 days of age. Hay and concentrate pellets (18% crude protein) were provided ad libi- tum. After weaning calves were housed in groups of 8 and fed 2.5 kg concentrate pellets per head per day and ad libitum hay.
Calves were weighed every 7 days from entry to group housing (T0) for 42 days until weaning (T6) and 42 days post weaning until average age 101±4 days (T12). During weighing the mean maximum surface temperature of the left flank was measured in each calf using an infra-red camera (T335, FLIR Systems, UK).
All data were analysed using RStudio 2022.02.0. Univariate regression was used to quantify the relationship be- tween flank temperature and bodyweight at each time point pre-weaning (T0-T6) and growth rate post-weaning (T6-T12). Variables with a p-value ≤0.1 in the univariate analysis were included in a multivariate model of post-weaning growth rate simplified by stepwise selection based on Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). Recorded cases of pneumonia and diarrhoea were included in the multivariate model to examine the influence of these diseases on growth rate.
Results: Univariate regression demonstrated significant positive correlations between growth rate post-weaning and flank temperature at T0 (r2=0.146, p<0.05), T1 (r2=0.336, p<0.01) T2 (r2=0.208, p<0.05) and a tendency for a positive correlation at T3 (r2=0.08, p<0.1) and these variables were therefore included in the multivariate model. Stepwise selection based on AIC retained flank temperature at T0, T2 and T3 and occurrence of pneumonia in the final model which accounted for 47.6% of the variance in post-weaning growth rate (adjusted r2= 0.476, p<0.01).
Conclusions: Measurement of flank surface temperature in calves shortly after introduction of solid feed was a significant predictor of growth rate after weaning - with measurement at one week after the introduction of solid feed (T1) being the largest contributor variable and therefore the best single time for this prediction.
It is suggested therefore that infra-red thermography of the left flank in dairy calves represents a viable method of identifying differences in rumen function between calves of similar age. As the differences in rumen function soon after introduction of solid food identified using infra-red thermography had significant impacts on growth rate post-weaning, this method offers considerable promise as a non-invasive method to identify individual differences in young calves that will have significant commercial implications.
Keywords: Dairy, Calves, Weaning, Rumen, Thermography.
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Affiliation of the authors at the time of publication
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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