Calfmatters collaboration with Women In Dairy

In 2018, building on previous collaborations, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health agreed a two year active sponsorship of Women in Dairy. To-date, most activity has concentrated on the topic of calf and youngstock health, which is still frequently the responsibility of female members of the farm team.  With antibiotic use in this phase of the animal’s life under scrutiny from the RUMA taskforce, meetings have spent time looking at preventative healthcare, best practice and have striven to share learnings from meeting attendee.  The calf sector continues to work towards reducing antibiotic use continue, as part of the battle against AMR (antimicrobial resistance). The #Calfmatters 2019 survey showed that calves which are vaccinated against pneumonia and have good housing and colostrum intake in the first few hours of life are more robust and resilient so requiring less antibiotic use.

Results from the survey as well as findings from an expert forum meeting will be shared by the Boehringer vet team at Women in Dairy meetings, and copies of the Calfmatters Blueprint, which can be used as poster in a calf shed or as a discussion piece and revolves around four main areas – prevention, management, teamwork and monitoring – is available here.