Many modern dairy farm operations have developed an additional revenue stream by breeding dairy cows with Black Angus beef bulls using artificial insemination to produce crossbred calves, which typically have improved meat quality and higher market value compared to purebred dairy calves. But these valuable hybrid calves often are beset with pneumonia, which was thought to limit their growth performance after they recover. However, in a new study, a team led by Penn State researchers determined that by the age of eight months on average, the hybrid calves that recovered from pneumonia achieved similar average daily growth to calves that never had pneumonia.
The team published its findings today (Jan. 31) in the Journal of Dairy Science.
The research, spearheaded by Ingrid Fernandes, a graduate assistant in the Department of Animal Science, may help inform the dairies struggling to survive financially, explained study author Melissa Cantor, Penn State assistant professor of precision dairy science in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
"We've had really high inflation, of course, across the United States, but particularly in the dairy industry, where the cost of raising purebred dairy replacements has grown astronomically," Cantor said. "Adding the beef-on-dairy hybrid sideline to their businesses has helped them, but financial constraints dictate that dairy farmers must be selective about which animals they keep. They need to be sure the practice makes sense for them economically."
In the study, the researchers reported that pneumonia observed in beef-on-dairy crosses only compromises their growth for about three weeks before they began bouncing back. Calves that were classified as having pneumonia, detected by ultrasound scans, exhibited compensatory growth when compared to their healthy peers, suggesting the illness was just a temporary setback.
