PRODUCTION PRACTICES, CALF HEALTH AND MORTALITY ON 6 WHITE VEAL FARMSIN ONTARIO

A group of 4863 white veal calves reared on six commercial white veal farms in Ontario were followed through production to describe calf cha racteristics and production levels. Patterns of morbidity, mortality, and culling were investigated at the farm, room and individual level. The majority of the calves were male Holsteins, with approximately hal f originating from Ontario. The mean average daily gain for shipped ca lves over the entire production period was 1.1 kg/day (SE = 0.002). Th e overall percentage of calves receiving at least one individual treat ment was 59%, with an average number of treatment days per calf of 3.3 . The majority of calves receiving one or more treatment days were fir st treated between the fourth and seventh week of production. The mort ality rate was 3.7%, and 5.1% of the calves were culled. Pneumonia was the largest single cause of death. Peak death and cull losses occurre d during the seventh and eighth week of production.