A large-scale trial will investigate whether the strategic use of sodium salicylate can improve calf health and lifetime performance in dairy beef systems.

Supported through ADOPT, the project will follow 725 dairy-beef calves from arrival through to finishing and processing, generating evidence to help farmers and vets decide when and how sodium salicylate should be used.

The team is testing how the timing of sodium salicylate supplementation can impact pneumonia rates and lifetime growth performance, as well as determine which protocol may provide the most benefit. 

Led by James Watson, Group Sustainability Lead at Buitelaar, the project also brings together Synergy Farm Health, the Royal Veterinary College and independent consultant Marc Jones to evaluate sodium salicylate under real commercial farming conditions.

The trial is being carried out by Buitelaar's dedicated Trials Committee, at Long Lane Development Farm in Somerset, a specialist calf rearing research and demonstration facility that rears around 8,200 calves each year. James believes that practical focus is what makes Long Lane Development Farm the right place to carry out trials like this.

"Everything we trial at Long Lane Development Farm has to be commercially viable – it's all very well saying something works for 10 calves or with expensive technology. But we don't want anyone visiting the farm thinking, 'I can't do that on my own farm.' If we're going to test something, it has to be practical and scalable."

Calves are allocated to one of four trial groups, receiving sodium salicylate either on arrival, from day 10, at both periods or not at all. Researchers will monitor antibiotic treatments, daily liveweight gain and lung health using ultrasound scanning at Long Lane. After Rearering, calves will leave the farm and be followed through to slaughter to capture lifetime growth and carcass quality.

One of the project's most distinctive features is that calves will be followed throughout the entire production cycle, allowing researchers to assess not only early health but whether any benefits are carried through to finishing and carcass performance. Buitelaar's integrated supply chain makes this approach possible.

The project focuses on the period following calves' arrival at the rearing unit, as they transition into their new environment and management routine. This is an important stage for calf health, particularly in relation to respiratory disease.

"Arrival at a rearing unit is an important transition point for calves," explains Rachel Hayton, Research Lead at Synergy Farm Health and trial facilitator. "They are adapting to a new environment, new routines and, in many cases, a new group. Understanding how we can best support calf health through that period is therefore really valuable.

"Sodium salicylate is an anti-inflammatory, so the question is whether using it strategically at particular points during the rearing period can improve health and performance. This study gives us the opportunity to answer that question using objective measures, including lung ultrasound scanning, alongside production data collected throughout the animals' lives."

As well as recording growth rates and antibiotic use, the project includes lung ultrasound scanning during the rearing period, providing an objective measure of respiratory health that can be compared with lifetime performance and carcass data. 

Supporting collaborative trials like this is the purpose of ADOPT (Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies), Defra's farmer-led innovation programme delivered by Innovate UK. ADOPT supports practical on-farm trials that help farmers test new ideas under commercial conditions, generating evidence that can improve productivity, resilience and sustainability across the wider sector. 

James added that the project is designed to answer questions that many farmers and vets have been asking.

"People have been trying sodium salicylate in different ways for years. You speak to one person, and they'll tell you to give it on arrival. Someone else says day 10, someone else does something completely different. There hasn't been much evidence so far to say what's right, and we want to find out what actually works under commercial conditions."

"A trial like this involves a huge amount of work behind the scenes. We're collecting detailed health and performance data right through to slaughter, so in a couple of years' time we'll have a really valuable body of evidence for the industry.

"The support available through ADOPT has made that possible by bringing together the right expertise and enabling us to collect the depth of information needed to produce evidence that the whole industry can have confidence in."

As with all ADOPT projects, the findings will be shared when the two-year trial concludes, helping farmers, vets and advisers make more informed decisions about calf health management.