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A calf chews on boards usually not out of pampering or boredom. He may well find other entertainment. For example, to push through a fence with your forehead. And it’s not boring, and cutting horns can be scratched.
Why does a calf gnaw on boards?
Unfortunately, much more often calves gnaw on boards due to a perversion of appetite. The latter occurs with a lack of certain vitamins or trace elements. It happens that this is how animals try to drown out hunger. But not because the owner decided to teach them not to eat and thus save on feed. When keeping a calf under the uterus, he may not have enough milk if the cow is low-yielding or has mastitis.
But more often the causes are in diseases:
- hypocobaltosis;
- hypocuprosis;
- bezoarny disease.
These are the main three reasons why calves start to chew on boards. And not only them. Perversion of appetite involves the eating of many inedible objects.
Hypocobaltosis
Occurs with a lack of cobalt in the soil and refers to endemic diseases. Calves are most sensitive to hypocobaltosis. Signs of cobalt deficiency are more often recorded in the spring-winter stall period.
It develops in areas with sandy, podzolic and peaty-marshy 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 the microflora in the intestine;
- signs of general anemia;
- perversion of appetite.
Trying to make up for the lack of cobalt, calves begin to gnaw boards, bark, wood and bones. They lick walls and other animals. They eat dry grass and earth.
Moreover, if the calf licks the walls or gnaws on wooden structures, it is generally accepted that he does not have enough calcium for growth. Because of this error, calcium supplements are given to the calf instead of cobalt salts and aggravate the course of the disease.
For treatment, cobalt chloride and sulfate are prescribed at the rate of 10-20 mg per day. Give in dressings, premixes and tablets. You can purchase a composition enriched with salts of this metal. Feeds rich in cobalt are introduced into the diet:
- beans;
- turnip and beet tops;
- feed yeast;
- meat and bone meal.
In case of advanced disease and the appearance of signs of anemia, vitamin B₁₂ injections are prescribed. Prevention is very simple: calves are provided with the necessary feeding.
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, an approximate set of substances in the soil can be determined by the composition of plants in the pasture
Hypocuprosis
It develops in areas with acidic peat-marshy soils, poor in copper. The most susceptible are calves, lambs and kids. Copper deficiency occurs when its content in the soil is less than 15 mg/kg, and in feed is below 5 mg/kg.
In calves, hypocuprosis can also develop when drinking milk and milk substitutes for too long. Since the lack 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 the structure of wool;
- anemia of mucous membranes;
- diarrhea;
- softening of the bones and deformation of the joints;
- perversion of appetite;
- a sharp decrease in hemoglobin in the blood.
That is, in this case, the calf does not begin to gnaw the boards because of hunger.
The diagnosis is made on the basis of laboratory tests of soil, feed and blood. For therapeutic purposes, calves are fed with copper sulfate 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 by the content of copper 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 fodder, copper-containing fertilizers are added to the soil.
bezoar disease
In fact, the only disease in which calves really gnaw on walls, boards, logs, etc. from hunger. The latter serves as a trigger. Young growth tries to fill the stomach by licking neighboring animals. The tongue of cows is rough, wool clings to it. The calf is not able to spit it out and is forced to swallow. Over time, hairballs form in his stomach. The process is accelerated if calving occurred 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 medical treatment. As a preventive measure, calves are fed with additional milk and mineral supplements and vitamins are introduced into the diet.
What to do if the calf gnaws on boards
The advice sometimes encountered to upholster boards with iron, stuff nails into them, smear them with tar, etc., does not solve the problem. They disguise it. If the perversion of appetite is caused by a lack of any elements in the feed, they first find out what is missing. To do this, donate blood for biochemical analysis.
Do not ignore the feed. It is also advisable to check hay and compound feed as the basis of the diet for the presence of all the 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 results of the analysis, the diet is balanced for the missing elements. This is usually done with the help of mineral and vitamin premixes. There are also enriched salt licks on sale. You can pick up salt with the necessary additives. It’s not worth chasing fashion. Himalayan salt does not mean miraculous healing.
If a 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 write off the problem as boredom, they let him out for the whole day, and put hay at night. Of course, provided that the calf is already large enough and able to eat roughage. If it’s really about finding entertainment, then he will not be up to the boards.
But you can arrange a cow baby and a toy: a slow feeder. Throughout the day, the calf will have fun pulling small bundles of hay out of it.
Conclusion
If the calf gnaws on the boards, first of all, the milking capacity of the queen cow is checked. It’s the easiest and fastest. Then they donate the blood of animals for biochemistry and, according to the results of the analysis, adjust the diet.