Presentations will be held in German or English. A translation will be available for each language. The slides of the speeches will be presented in English language.

Prof. Dr. Richard Ducatelle,
Uni. Gent, Belgien

All calves suffer from food allergy. How can we avoid it?
What kind of role do the microbes in the intestinal tract of calves play? Should we kill the microbes or rather stimulate them? How does the immunity in the intestinal tract of calves develop? Should we stimulate or suppress immunity in the intestinal tract?

Prof. Dr. sc. agr. Anke Schuldt und Dr. Regina Dinse,
University of Applied Schience Neubrandenburg, Germany

Well-being, health and fertility – how does the drinking allowance influence calf rearing?
Calf rearing without the mother must be designed in such a way that the calves can largely practice their natural behavior and behavioral abnormalities are significantly reduced. Indicators of the well-being of calves are a strong play and social behavior as well as the extensive prevention of mutual cross sucking and blind visits at the drinking station of automatic feeders. What influence does the drinking right have on these parameters and what recommendations can be made?

Dr. Peter Sanftleben,
Institute for animal production at the LFA MV, Germany

Deutschland Focussing on Calves diarrhea – Do we have the right tools at hand?
Calf diarrhea are a major problem in rearing. Result: high costs, poor growth, non-vital calves and too high mortalities in many farms. A monitoring in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in more than 60 farms with at least 50 cows did combine feces sampling to determine the pathogen spectrum with an analysis of management practices from the colostrum phase to hygiene management. Clustering is intended to provide key starting points for better management

Dr. Jodi Wallace,
Ormstown Veterinary Hospital, Canada

Zero Zero Calf Care – zero treatments, zero loss
Zero treatments and zero mortality. I would have never believed it was achievable, but “zero-zero” calf care is. But you don’t get there overnight.
It takes a team of dedicated caregivers and professionals who care and consistently do the basics right. Understanding the “why” of each of the daily calf tasks will help to get closer to zero-zero calf care.

Charlotte Rothert,
Cowfile/Galaxis, Germany

From necessary evel to competitive advantage – How to understand, develop and keep employees.
How would it be... ...to have a great team where every family member and every employee knew at any time what to do and when it is to do? And if you could enter the barn without having to assume that again something went wrong that you have to align. Instead you would improve your business every day constantly together with your team and make it more profitable and future-proof. In this workshop I want to develop usable tools with you enabling you to achieve these goals. Tools which help you to understand your employees better and develop and hold them without huge effort. Together we will work out ways helping you to minimise the fluctuation of staff and work with your employees more efficiently.

Dr. Harma Berends,
Agrifirm, Niederlande

Precision Nutrition – Bringing science into farms

Martin Moos,
Gut Hohen Luckow, Germany

Influence of the dry cow management on the quality of colostrum and calf health 

Dr. Evi Croes, Nukamel
Energy and protein: how to find the right balance for optimal calf growth?
The nutrients provided through milk replacers can vary a lot in quantity and quality. But how do you know that the nutrients provided fit the requirements of your calves? Is protein or energy the limiting factor in early calf growth? And how is this influenced by feeding level, age of the calf and climate? Feeding calves is like walking a tight-rope. Based on models, experience in the field and trial work we try to find solutions and advice farms how to maintain the balance and make the most out of their youngstock!

Dr. Peter Zieger und Dr. Christian Koch Myth
"Acidosis in calf" – Is it real?
The healthy gastrointestinal tract as a prerequisite for a long life. Which role does the feeding regime play? After the workshop you will be able to recognize and classify acidosis in calves more easily. Stress factors are shown, as well as lesions in abomasum and rumen, as well as their reason of occurrence. Our common goal: an optimal drinking strategy for the healthy development of the digestive tract of the calf.

Jürgen Plesse, Förster Technik und Holger Kruse, Holm & Laue
How to get the milk come from cow to calf?
The feeding of whole milk poses major hurdles for many farms. The milk must be transported to the calf barn after milking. The cooling chain must be strictly kept until feeding. Germ-containing whole milk should not be fed without prior treatment (pasteurization). In addition, the gentle heating of the milk and the subsequent cleaning of the equipment is a major challenge. For the first time, the companies Förster Technik and Holm & Laue will present various methods for the handling of whole milk in a joint presentation and will give you "vital tips and rules" for your calves when handling whole milk in the calf shed.

Marijke Everts, VanDrie Group, Niederlande
The future of veal in Europe
Veal has been part of the culinary traditions and well-being of Europeans for years and years. Veal has always been special, during particular events, the slaughtering and consumption of a calf has been remarked. This majestic position of veal is being enforced by a well-organized veal sector. By processing of residual products of the dairy and food industry like bull calves and whey, the veal sector creates a high-end product.

Just like in the rest of the world, the population in Europe is growing. With it, the need for high-end protein is expanding. Meanwhile in western countries the production and consumption of meat is closely monitored by critics. Alternative sources of protein are gaining popularity.

During the presentation “The Future of Veal in Europe” Director Corporate Affairs, Marijke Everts of the VanDrie Group, takes us along with her vision on the production and consumption of veal in Europe. As world market leader in veal, calf milk and calfskin it is impossible to imagine a veal sector without the Family-owned VanDrie Group. Questions alike ‘’Does the veal sector have a license to produce in the future?’’, ‘’Will there remain a market for veal?’’ and ‘’What should I do with my bull calves in the future’’ are central during this presentation.

Dr Harma Berends
Precision Nutrition – Bringing science into farms
Calf health and nutrition is gaining importance in dairy science, since the importance of early life development for long-term health and productivity of dairy cows has become increasingly apparent. Insights in metabolic programming have led to increased awareness of quality and quantity of early life nutrition and interactions with health and development in calves. This has been translated to greater nutrient supply in early life because of proven benefits for growth, feed efficiency, survival, and milk production (Bach, 2011, 2012; Soberon et al., 2012).

How do we translate scientific findings to day-to-day farm reality? How do we support farmers in management decisions combining scientific content with a specific farm situation and aspects like logistics and resources? How to define the first win in each specific situation?

Beke Ostendorf, M. Sc. Agrarwissenschaften
The influence of the drinking speed on the behaviour and on the health of calves during the drinking phase

What to expect:
The unexpected advantages of maximum saliva production during the drinking period on the calf. The foundation stone for a successful calf and young cattle rearing is already laid in the first weeks of a calf's life. It is therefore desirable to have a feeding technique that comes close to the natural milk intake on the udder. In this workshop you will learn about the effects of a slow milk intake for the calf, which I was able to gain as part of my master's thesis at the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel.

Martin Moos, Gut Hohen Luckow
Influence of the dry cow management on the quality of colostrum and calf health

Colostrum is essential for the newborn calf, as it is born without passive immunity. By administering high-quality colostrum, the active immunization of the calf can be improved. The quality of the colostrum is largely determined by genetics. Animals with high-quality colostrum continue to inherit this.

The quantity of the first colostrum also influences the quality due to the dilution effect. Since the colostrum is formed from the 7th month of the dry period, the length of the dry period plays a decisive role. Depending on how many pathogens the mother had to deal with, it also releases this into the colostrum in the form of antibodies. On the other hand, the different modes of action of apparently identical immunoglobulin contents and their absorptions remain open.

Bärbel Achelpöhler, DairyTop
The right tools leading to perfect immunity – strategies for optimal colostrum handling and feeding

Why is colostrum so important for the newborn calf? You will get recommendations how these strategies for handling and feeding colostrum in practice can be easy and efficient.

Dirk Sötje, Holm & Laue
„The next calf barn will be much better!“

Is there the perfect calf barn?

This question is difficult to answer. There are many philosophies about the key to a successful calf housing. Shed roof or ridge? Natural or active ventilation? Individual or group housing? Automatic calf feeding machine or bucket feeding? Hutches, igloo barns or solid stable?

There is not one system that is right for every farm. There is a lot to consider in the calf barn. The big five functional areas are important

• air and ventilation management,
• feeding,
• mocking out and cleaning,
• labor management and
• hygiene

And if you are currently planning a calf stable, you certainly have a firm opinion and a good solution on at least one of these functional areas. Just don't neglect the others and don't make mistakes other farmers have already made.

Learn how to read a calf barn in this workshop. This includes, above all, the recognition of different functional areas and their evaluation.

Work together with the speakers to develop the calf barn that meets your requirements and learn how you can implement your ideas in terms of construction.

The three winning farmers introduce their success stories in calf rearing

The winners of the MSD Award for Animal Health 2019 live on stage at the ECC
Jan Köhler and the 'Luchbergmilch' from Glashütte-Luchau in the Eastern Ore Mountains won the first "Animal Health Award". The manager and board of the Agrargenossenschaft e.G. Cunnersdorf made a decisive contribution to the modernization of the historically grown farm. His success proves him right. Improved animal health and better daily gains proved the success of his measures. Jan Köhler: "Calf health is important to us! Not only is it more fun to work with healthy animals, only healthy calves also grow healthy dairy cows.”

The second place goes to Schleswig-Holstein. Konstanze Rohwer and her husband Marcus offer their calves, a "5-star plus service" on their farm in Westerrönfeld, Schleswig-Holstein. Calves with difficult birth circumstances grow up in their own premature nursery. The couple sees the award not only as recognition of years of work but looks forward to the future exchange with the other farmers.

Christine Löb from Reupelsdorf is honoured with the third place. The farmer from the Hugo Löb farm in Bavaria sees her work as a calling and therefore cannot stop thinking about improvements: “Do it right or do not do it at all.” Half-measures are out of the question for the former Bavarian milk queen. "I want to have healthy animals. I don't want to put out fires. It is therefore important to plan ahead."

"Finding answers to increasing criticism of calf welfare"
Agriculture in general and livestock farming in particular are facing growing criticism from the population. With tractor convoys, farmers all over Europe are attracting attention! But how do you get into a conversation with consumers? What are the different opinions? What answers can we give to their questions on calf rearing?

In this workshop, you will work on answers to these questions in direct exchange with other participants. Together, you are working on a template for better communication with consumers. This will allow you to overcome communication hurdles and promote public understanding in the future.