Ante-mortem condemnation of young calves

Abstract

Sir,—In the course of a survey of apparently healthy bobby calves at the Auckland Farmers Freezing Company works at Horotiu, Hamilton, an opportunity was taken to examine certain groups of calves during the months of August and September, 1964. These calves were (a) dead on arrival, (b) condemned for immaturity as judged by the weight (<45lb), moist appearance of the navel and lack of wear of the foot pads, or (c) condemned as being unfit — i.e., showing some obvious deviation from normal clinical appearance, such as collapse, stupor, diarrhoea or suffering from trauma.