Farming practices in Sweden related to feeding milk and colostrum from cows treated with antimicrobials to dairy calves

Table 2 Feeding calves transition milk ¹ from cows treated with antimicrobials at dry off

Are calves fed transition waste milk (WT) from cows treated with antimicrobials at dry off?	Number of farms	Proportion of farms²(%)
Always	260	58
Only to certain calves³	84	19
Heifer calves	10	12
Bull calves	64	76
Calves above a certain age^a	10	12
Calves below a certain age^b	6	7
Other⁴	14	17
No answer	0	0
Only from a particular day after calving	42	9
The day after calving	2	5
Two days after calving	5	12
Three days after calving	17	43
Four days after calving	16	40
Never	66	15
Not responding	3	1

¹ Transition milk is milk from the second milk to the fourth day after calving.
² Proportions add to more than 100% as some farmers ticked multiple answers.
³ This question was followed by a follow-up question only seen by respondents choosing this option. The options and responses for the follow-up question are shown in italic.
^a Median = 4 weeks, mean = 4.5 weeks, ^b Median = 1 week, mean = 1.2 weeks.
⁴ Some responded that TWM is only fed to the dam’s own calf because the calf and cow are kept together during this period. Others stated that they are only allowed to feed TWM to the dam’s own calf according to the rules for organic certification or that fresh cows are used as nursing cows for a group of calves during this period.

ISSN: 1751-0147