A randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of transport duration and age at transport on surplus dairy calves: Part I. Impact on health and growth

ABSTRACT: Calves arriving to veal and dairy-beef facilities in poor condition are at risk of future health challenges and reduced growth rates, and limited knowledge is available on how time in transit affects subsequent health and growth of these animals. The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to understand the effects of transport duration on diarrhea, respiratory disease, and growth of surplus calves destined for veal production following 6, 12, or 16 h of continuous road transport. Surplus dairy calves (n = 175; 7 transport cohorts) from 5 commercial dairy farms in Ontario, Canada, were enrolled on the day of birth. These calves were clinically examined daily on the source farms until the day before transport and on a daily basis for the first 14 d at the veal farm. On the day of transport, they were randomly assigned to 6, 12, or 16 h of transport to a veal farm. A blood sample was collected between 24 and 48 h of birth to assess transfer of passive immunity status. Calves were weighed at birth, before and immediately after transport, as well as 24, 48, and 72 h after unloading. Calves were also weighed 14 and 50 d after transport. Health exams were conducted daily at the source farm, immediately before and after transport, and once daily for 14 d thereafter to evaluate clinical signs of diarrhea, respiratory disease, dehydration, and navel inflammation. Mixed effects Poisson regression models were used to evaluate variables associated with the number of days with abnormal respiratory and fecal scores, whereas mixed logistic regression models with repeated measures were built to assess the probability of a calf having abnormal respiratory scores, abnormal fecal scores, or dehydration by day after arrival to the facility. A mixed model with repeated measures was used to evaluate calf weight at each time point at which body weight was measured after transport, whereas a mixed linear regression model was used to evaluate factors associated with average daily gain (ADG) in the 50 d after transport. Calves transported for 16 h had greater incidence of abnormal fecal scores compared with 6 h in the 14 d after transport. In addition, an interaction between age and duration of transport on the number of days with abnormal respiratory scores was identified, where calves older than 7 d of age had reduced incidence of abnormal respiratory score compared with calves 2 to 6 d old, even when transported for 16 h. As for growth, age at transport was positively associated with ADG in the 50 d of observation; however, no differences were observed between transport duration groups. These findings highlight that transporting calves for a longer duration negatively affects subsequent health, and calves greater than 1 wk of age experience improved health and growth after transport compared with their younger counterparts.