BOTTLE teats in cows are a major cause of calf loss reports Australian project CalfWatch.
The project was headed by Tim Schatz, the Principal Livestock
Researcher with Northern Territory Department of Industry Tourism and Trade.
Bottle teat teats are the result of one or more teats becoming enlarged during lactation, their size make it difficult for calves to suckle, resulting in their deaths.
Mr Schatz studied 200 cows over the course of two years using a system of birthing sensors and GPS collars.
He said the cows were kept in a 2215 hectare paddock with mostly native pastures.
“Calf loss rates were 17 percent in 2019 and 2020,” he said.
“We saw a number of causes of calf loss including early abortion, dystocia, infection of the umbilical cord and pneumonia, but these were only one or two cases each.
“The most common cause of calf loss we identified was cows with bottle teats immediately after calving.”
During the trial between five and six percent of all pregnancies resulted in calf deaths attributed to bottle teats.
Coulson graziers Jim and Margaret Harvey run a herd of 400 Droughtmasters on their 800 hectare property.
Mr Harvey said most bottle teat issues occurred in cattle within the Northern Territory but South East Queensland graziers were also affected.
“Why there is more up there than down here is a debatable question because usually those sorts of things end up happening here as well,” he said.
“Mineral or deficiency could be a reason, or dry weather and not enough green feed...things like that.
“Bottle teats are also an inherited condition that stems from breeders keeping bulls that have come from bottle teat cows and passing the condition down.”
He said he culled his cows if they had the condition.“Once the teats get too big a calf can’t fit it in its mouth,” he explained.
“A lot of Brahmans years ago were culled and some of the Droughtmasters too, we needed to get on it straight away when after their third calf their teats were too big.
“No calf is not a profitable enterprise, so I cull cows for that.
“A lot of the time if I can catch the mum as well and see which one it is, I’ll get rid of the heifer as well.”
He said genetically predisposed cows usually developed condition after their second or third calf.
“You could buy a bull and he could turn out to be very expensive if he carries the bottle teat gene but that’s not something you’ll find out for three years,” he said.
“If a bull has come out of a bottle teated cow, around 20 percent of his sired heifer calves are going to be bottle teated.”
The CalfWatch project found many of the cows monitored that had bottle teats at calving went on to have normal udders a few weeks later.
“If this is typical of northern herds it is likely these cows are going through the yards later in the year without being culled,” Mr Schatz said.
“If this is the case, they will only continue to lose calves in the following seasons.
“So, producers could consider culling all cows that don’t raise a calf to weaning as a way of removing these cows from the herd.
“We wouldn’t have known bottle teats were the cause of the issue if we hadn’t been using the CalfWatch system which allowed us to see the cows at calving.”