Table 1 Health scoring criteria used to assess external, clinical health of calves (based on Wisconsin calf health protocol [20] and research by Barry et al. [21] and Marcato et al. [11])
Indicator | Score | Criteria |
|---|---|---|
Eye discharge | 0 | No discharge |
| Â | 1 | Small or moderate amount of unilateral or bilateral ocular discharge |
Altered ear | 0 | Normal ear position or slight unilateral droop |
position | 1 | Head tilt or bilateral droop |
Nose discharge | 0 | Normal serous discharge |
| Â | 1 | Small amount of unilateral cloudy discharge, moderate amount of bilateral cloudy discharge, or copious bilateral mucopurulent discharge |
Coughing | 0 | No cough |
| Â | 1 | Occasional or continuous cough |
Skin tent (> 1s) | 0 1 | Normal, skin tent returns to normal < 1s Dehydrated, skin tent returns to normal > 1s |
Navel | 0 | Normal (up to approx. width of pointer finger) |
inflammation | 1 | Mild (more than approx. width of pointer finger), or moderately inflamed (approx. width ≥ 3 fingers, hot, and/or pain) |
Gut fill | 0 | Full, width of < 1 fist fits in the triangle of the Para-lumbar fossa. |
| Â | 1 | Empty, width of fist can easily fit in the Para-lumbar fossa |
Decreased | 0 | Bright, alert, responsive |
responsiveness | 1 | Dull, markedly depressed, or unresponsive |