Content
A calf usually chews on boards not out of pampering or boredom. He may well find other entertainment. For example, pushing through a fence with your forehead. And it’s not boring, and you can scratch the cutting horns.
Why does a calf chew boards?
Unfortunately, much more often calves chew on boards due to a perversion of appetite. The latter occurs when there is a lack of certain vitamins or microelements. It happens that this is how animals try to suppress hunger. But not because the owner decided to teach them not to eat and thus save on food. When keeping a calf under the uterus, it may not have enough milk if the cow has low milk yield or has mastitis.
But more often the causes are diseases:
- hypocobaltosis;
- hypocuprosis;
- bezoar disease.
These are the main three reasons why calves start chewing on boards. And not only them. Perversion of appetite involves eating many inedible objects.
Hypocobaltosis
It occurs when there is a lack of cobalt in the soil and is an endemic disease. Calves are most sensitive to hypocobaltosis. Signs of cobalt deficiency are more often recorded during the spring-winter stall period.
It develops in areas with sandy, podzolic and peat-boggy soils with a cobalt content of less than 2 mg/kg. In grass and hay it is about 0.6 mg/kg.
Hypocobaltosis is characterized by:
- indigestion, when diarrhea alternates with constipation;
- changes in microflora in the intestines;
- signs of general anemia;
- perversion of appetite.
Trying to compensate for the lack of cobalt, calves begin to chew boards, bark, wood and bones. They lick walls and other animals. They eat dry grass and soil.
Moreover, if a calf licks walls or chews on wooden structures, it is generally accepted that it does not have enough calcium to grow. Because of this mistake, instead of cobalt salts, the calf is given calcium supplements and aggravates the course of the disease.
For treatment, cobalt chloride and sulfate are prescribed at a rate of 10-20 mg per day. They are given in supplements, premixes and tablets. You can purchase a composition enriched with salts of this metal. Feeds rich in cobalt are introduced into the diet:
- legumes;
- rutabaga and beet tops;
- feed yeast;
- meat and bone meal.
In case of advanced disease and signs of anemia, injections of vitamin B₁₂ are prescribed. Prevention is very simple: calves are provided with the necessary supplements.
With an excess, structural and functional changes occur in the mucous membrane of the eyes, in the gastrointestinal tract, lungs and circulatory system.
With a good knowledge of botany, the approximate set of substances in the soil can be determined by the composition of plants in the pasture
Hycuporosis
Develops in areas with acidic peat-boggy soils poor in copper. Calves, lambs and kids are most susceptible. Copper deficiency occurs when its content in soil is less than 15 mg/kg, and in feed is below 5 mg/kg.
Hypocuprosis can also develop in calves if they drink milk and milk substitutes for too long. Since a deficiency or excess of any element in the feed causes a chain reaction, hypocuprosis can also be provoked by:
- lack of iron or cobalt;
- excess lead, molybdenum, calcium, sulfur and inorganic sulfates.
General signs of hypocuprosis:
- developmental delay;
- change in wool structure;
- anemia of mucous membranes;
- diarrhea;
- softening of bones and deformation of joints;
- perversion of appetite;
- a sharp decrease in hemoglobin in the blood.
That is, in this case, the calf begins to chew the boards not because of hunger.
The diagnosis is made on the basis of laboratory tests of soil, feed and blood. For medicinal purposes, copper sulfate is added to the feed of calves in the amount of 50-150 mg per day.
Other elements are also recommended. Better in premixes. As a preventive measure, the diet is balanced in terms of copper content at the rate of 8-10 mg/kg of dry matter. If there is a chronic lack of copper in the feed, calves are given 5-15 mg of sulfate per day for prevention. When growing forage, copper-containing fertilizers are added to the soil.
Bezoar disease
In fact, the only disease in which calves actually chew walls, boards, logs, etc. from hunger. The latter serves as a trigger. The young try to fill their stomachs by licking neighboring animals. Cows have a rough tongue, and wool clings to it. The calf is unable to spit it out and is forced to swallow it. Over time, hair balls form in his stomach. The process is accelerated if calving occurs at the time of molting.
If the balls do not create a mechanical blockage of the intestine, bezoar disease is asymptomatic. The only indirect sign is an attempt to gnaw on inedible objects.
There is no drug treatment. As a preventative measure, calves are fed additional milk and mineral supplements and vitamins are introduced into the diet.
What to do if a calf is chewing on boards
The advice sometimes given to cover boards with iron, hammer nails into them, smear them with tar, etc., does not solve the problem. They disguise it. If a perversion of appetite is caused by a lack of any elements in the feed, first of all they find out what is missing. To do this, donate blood for biochemical analysis.
The food is also not ignored. It is also advisable to check hay and mixed feed as the basis of the diet for the presence of all necessary substances. Since hay usually comes from nearby areas, the lack of certain elements in the grass is permanent. Quite often, local residents know about this and can even suggest folk ways of fighting.
After receiving the analysis results, the diet is balanced according to the missing elements. This is usually done using mineral and vitamin premixes. Fortified salt licks are also available for sale. You can choose salt with the necessary additives. Just don't chase fashion. Himalayan salt does not mean a miracle cure.
If bezoar disease is suspected, the productivity of the uterus is checked. If the cow is low-yielding, the calf is fed additionally. In order not to attribute the problem to boredom, he is allowed out for the whole day to walk, and hay is added at night. Of course, provided that the calf is already large enough and is able to eat roughage. If it's really about looking for entertainment, then he won't have time for boards.
But you can also give the cow baby a toy: a slow feeder. Throughout the day, the calf will entertain itself by pulling out small bundles of hay.
Conclusion
If a calf chews on boards, the first thing to check is the milk yield of the mother cow. This is the easiest and fastest way.Next, the animals’ blood is donated for biochemistry and the diet is adjusted based on the analysis results.
