Fellow: Katie Callero

Mentor: Sabine Mann

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): 

Solving food insecurity and the ever-growing need for high-quality food to fuel the current and future generations is of paramount importance to our global society. At the same time, it is critical to ensure that solutions are not at the detriment of the welfare and health of livestock and meet sustainable production needs. Current practices within the dairy cow production system have raised welfare concerns and questions about best practices for raising calves that need to be addressed with sound scientific methods. Following traditional recommendations, most dairy farmers in our country immediately separate a cow from her calf after she gives birth. This is done to harvest milk for income to the farm, but also out of concern for injuries to the calf, exposure of the neonate to pathogens possibly shed by the dam causing diarrhea and pneumonia, and risk for intramammary infection of the cow due to sucking. Pneumonia and mastitis are cattle diseases most frequently treated with antimicrobials; a practice of increasing concern due to antimicrobial resistance development. Recent work out of Europe has shown that cow-calf separation may not be the best practice for the production, health, and behavior of the cow-calf pairs, and contrary to widespread belief, cow udder health and calf health may both benefit from a prolonged contact after birth. The proposed research will take a thorough approach to evaluating health outcome differences between cows who remain with their calves for a week, who have limited access to their calves, or no access to their calves. An undergraduate working on this project will have the opportunity to lead an independent part of the study focusing on cow udder health and calf lung health and participate in collaborative research which will have direct impact on the way dairies manage cows and calves and the resulting antimicrobial use.