Relationship between diseases and growth status of newborn calves from birth to weaning in dairy herds around Mashhad

Providing the health of calves play a major role in their growth and the profitability of the flock. The purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between the occurrence of different diseases in newborn calves with weight gain and increasing their height and also the relationship between neonatal diseases and mortality rates with some factors due to the calf and its environment. This study was performed on 1595 male and female calves in 8 dairy farms of the Mashhad suburb. After taking some information about the general characteristics of farms, items consist of the rate of involvement with various diseases, mortality rate and the time of its occurrence during the 80-day study period were recorded. The biometric parameters consist of weight and height at birth, 40 and 80 days after birth were also measured. The relationship between diseases with growth indicators (weight and height) were evaluated by generalized linear model test and between independent variables including gender, the season of birth, type of parturition (eutocia or dystocia), type of birth (one or twin), parity of cow and birth weight of the calves with involvement in diarrhea, pulmonary infection and other diseases and the chance of death was analyzed by the logistic regression test. Diarrhea, arthritis, bloat, Navel and eye infections caused a significant decrease in weight gaining of calves, whereas only diarrhea had a significant effect on height. The mortality rate was 3.89 percent, which occurred from 1 to 78 days old. The most important causes of calf mortality at lower ages were physical injuries, genetic defects, meningitis, diarrhea and septicemia, and at upper ages were pulmonary involvement, diarrhea and arthritis. The chance of involvement with diarrhea and pulmonary infection in twins was significantly greater than singles, the odds of this infection in calves born with dystocia, in the warm season and high birth weight were greater than the corresponding groups. The mortality in twins, male calves and those born in the warm season were higher than the corresponding groups.