Korean native calf mortality: the causes of calf death in a large breeding farm over a 10-year period

Abstract

(Received: March 24, 2015; Revised: April 17, 2015; Accepted: April 28, 2015)Abstract : Calf losses have an economic impact on larger Korean native cattle (KNC) breeding farms due toreplacement, productivity, and marketing. However, little research on KNC calf mortality or causes of calf death onlarge-scale breeding farms has been conducted. Based on medical records and autopsy findings from the Hanwooexperimental station of the National Institute of Animal Science, calf death records from 2002 to 2011 were usedto identify the causes of mortality. Mortality rate of KNC calves was 5.7%. Large differences (1.8~12.6%) in year-specific mortalities were observed. Calf deaths were due to digestive diseases (68.7%), respiratory diseases (20.9%),accidents (6.0%), and other known diseases (2.2%). The main cause of calf death was enteritis followed by pneumonia,rumen indigestion, and intestinal obstruction. The greatest number of calf deaths occurred during the fall followedby summer. These results indicated that enteritis and pneumonia were the main reasons for calf death. However, autopsyfindings demonstrated that other factors also caused calf death. This study suggested that seasonal breeding and routinevaccinations are the most important factors for preventing calf death, and improving calf health in high land areaswith low temperature. Keywords : autopsy, calf, disease, Korean native cattle, mortality