Dr. Sheila McGuirk says ice water is a handy way to get a struggling calf on the road to warmth. Calves that don’t score well on a vitality scale need stimulation to avoid hypothermia.
Source: Dairy Herd Management, December 1, 2016.
Shivering, shaking and making standing attempts are how newborn calves maintain body heat, but they don’t always want to do that right away. “It’s a very abrupt stimulus,”McGuirk says. “They shake their head and when they shake their head they want to breathe.”
Also see: Your Calf’s 5-Hour Energy
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