Navel Management
Navel management and protection is one of the most important things you can do for your calves and your wallet.
A close second behind colostrum management and a clean maternity pen should be dipping navels.
The navel is a direct pathway to the bloodstream and the joints. Without the proper navel dipping protocols and products, you could end up spending large amounts of money and time on treating navel and joint infections. What is even more costly is culling calves because of untreatable joint infections due to poor navel management.
Now that you understand the importance of dipping navels, I am going to explain our protocol and how we have gone from 20% of navels being infected (and many times leading to joint infections), to less than 1% of navels becoming infected.
We use a peer-reviewed product called NAVEL GUARD. In the peer review study, NAVEL GUARD had 36% less infections than 7% tinctured iodine (the previous “gold” standard) and 50% less infections than no dipping or dipping with lower levels of iodine products.
1. We have no control over what happens in the first few hours of life, and whether the calves are dipped before we get them. We see about a 50% success rate on navel dipping, with 7% iodine, on the calves we are picking up daily. We call a successful navel dip one where the cord and cord base are covered in iodine, and there is a clear 2” area around the navel that is dyed from the 7% iodine.
We would call this a poorly dipped navel. The cord base has no iodine on it, meaning that the iodine did not cover the entire area to protect the navel from external hazards.
2. When the calves get to our farm, the first thing we do is dip navels a second time. In the past, we have used 7% iodine. We were having 20% of calves with navel issues while our farm and the dairy were both using 7% iodine, with 50% of the calves coming in not dipped successfully.
3. Earlier this year, we switched to NAVEL GUARD, by SCG-Solutions, LLC. We have dipped over 400 calves with NAVEL GUARD and have had a total of 3 out of the 400 calves dipped end up with navel infections that have required treatment (less than 1%, down from 20%), since switching. We have had substantially fewer joint infections, as a result of fewer navel infections.
Why does NAVEL GUARD work so well?
It has a triple mode of action!
1. Isopropyl Alcohol – cleaning, and quickly dries up the navel cord.
2. Ike-Joe – is a proprietary process that creates a positively charged hydrogen ion, using FDA GRAS ingredients, that is very effective against harmful gram-negative organisms. It continues to clean and keeps cleaning for at least 14 days.
3. Green Acid – (Citric Acid & DDBSA) – combines to make a very effective antimicrobial agent.Benefits:- It’s non-hazardous, so it can be shipped anywhere at any time!- It’s far more economical AND still effective.- It passed the FDA’s USP <51> antimicrobial test, meaning that it kills quickly, and also continues to kill for at least 14 days to protect the navel.
– NAVEL GUARD uses food grade dyes for easy identification, and to be able to easily tell if calves are being properly dipped.
– No prescription is required!
– Peer reviewed
The photo on the left is a navel dipped a few hours ago with Navel Guard. The photo on the right is the navel 8 hours after being dipped in 7% iodine.
Switching to NAVEL GUARD has saved us time (by not treating and having to check navels as frequently for infection), money (not spending money on antibiotics and treatments), and increased calf health and well-being! We will not be switching back to iodine anytime soon!If you want more information or would like to see the same results we have with NAVEL GUARD, please send us a message! Or follow this link to learn more and place an order!