Epi. 305 - Short- and Long-distance Transport: Health, Survival and Growth of Preweaned Dairy and Dairy-beef Cross Calves – Sponsored by Merck Animal Health
AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by Dr. Juan Piñeiro, Department of Animal Sciences at Texas A&M University and Dr. Gustavo Schuenemann, Department of Preventive Medicine at The Ohio State University, to discuss their paper published in the Journal of Animal Science in September 2025. This episode of Have You Herd is sponsored by Merck Animal Health, manufacturers of Resflor Gold®. Find out more information about Resflor Gold® at this link . Our guests discuss the rationale for this retrospective study to evaluate the effects of transportation times on newborn calves and the importance of this subject to our current industry practices. The study involved 15 farms, nearly 400,000 calves and evaluated transport durations of 0.5, 8, 17 and 24 hours in both dairy breed and beef x dairy calves. Data collected in the evaluation included birth weight, dystocia events, dam parity, gestation length, colostrum practices, passive transfer in a subset of calves, diarrhea and pneumonia events, mortality and average daily gain in a subset of calves. One of the key findings in the study was that cofounders were important to evaluate morbidity and mortality. Transportation length alone did not explain the differences in groups when evaluating cofounders and the authors suggest that evaluating transportation length alone misses other factors that could improve calf health and productivity. To improve preweaning calf health, veterinarians should work with clients on prepartum management to optimize fetal programming and immunity, maternity pen management and colostrum program, transportation practices, and preweaning calf management such as nutrition and housing. Ensuring that all calves being transported are fit for transport is important to optimize welfare and health. Find the AABP Transportation and Fitness-For-Transport Recommendations for Cattle at this link or the Spanish translation here . Reference:Schuenemann GM, Piñeiro JM. Short- and long-distance transport: Health, survival and growth of preweaned dairy and dairy-beef cross calves. J Ani Sci. 2025;103:skaf341. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf341




