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Having a successful heifer raising operation is not only relevant financially, but also influential for the future of the dairy herds. Milk feeding has a significant role on the health and growth of calves before weaning, in addition to the direct progressive effects on future performance post-weaning. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the effects of constants amount of milk (CMS) versus step-up/step-down (SUSD) on calf performance in two different suckling schedules of suckling milk gradually till 9th weeks of calf age, then decreasing it till weaning. For this study, forty Holstein heifers calves utilized between birth and 8 months of age were randomly divided into four groups of 10 calves each. Grouping was performed according to suckling protocol (constant versus variable) and suckling schedule (2 versus 3 times/day). Each calf suckled 600 kg of milk in a suckling period of 120 days. Body weight (BW), in addition to five body measurements: chest girth (CG), height at wither (HW), height at rump (HR), body length (BL), and diagonal length (DL), were recorded weekly. The heaviest BW was observed on SUSD calves suckling twice/day which had also the highest HW at weaning. Similarly, were BW, HW, and CG at 6 months of age. Also, the same group achieved the largest daily BW (0.902 kg/day), BL (0.246 cm), and CG (0.338 cm/day) gains during the pre-weaning phase. However, CMS suckled 3 times/day calves had the largest daily BW gain between birth and 6 or 8 months of age. CMS twice/day calves had the largest daily gain in CG from weaning to 6 months and from weaning to 8 months of age followed by SUSD suckling 3 times/day calves. Also, CMS twice/day calves had the largest daily gain in rump height from birth to 8 months of age compared to other groups. It can be concluded that when equal amounts of milk were fed during the suckling period, suckling protocol affected growth rate before weaning but that effect diminished as calf age increased after weaning.

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Moringa Oleifera Lam. is a tree native to the Indian subcontinent and has been naturalized in various tropical and subtropical areas around the world. The fresh leaves, fl owers and pods are consumed for human feeding, while may also use in livestock feeding. Many researchers evaluated the effects of using Moringa Oleifera parts as additive to farm animals feed on feed intake, and digestibility and found that it may had positive effects on them. The main goal of this experiment was to appraise the effects of using Moringa seeds as a feed additive on growth performance, body measurements and blood biochemistry of fattened Barki sheep. Thirty 5-months old male Barki lambs were choosed randomly from the fattening research herd of Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University for this study. Lambs had 25.3+0.9 kg average initial live weight were involved in two groups each of 15 heads and fed according to NRC 2001. The fi rst group (control) fed on concentrate commercial mixture (14% total protein and 65% total digestible nutrient) with no Moringa seed meal added. The second group (MSM) fed the same concentrate mixture supplemented with 4 g of Moringa seed per day/head. Lambs body weights were recorded at the beginning of the trial, and then every 15-days throughout the experiment which lasted 45 days. Similarly, measures of body length, height at wither, chest girth and round circumference were recorded along with body weights. The average fi nal body weight of control lambs (31.5+1.6 kg) was less (P < 0.001) than that of MSM group (34.5+1.4 kg), similarly the daily gain was signifi cantly more (P < 0.05) with MSM group (0.276+0.1 g) than control group (0.138+ 0.1 g). The corresponding body measurements were not signifi cantly different in control than MSM group. The supplement to diet of lamb fattened lambs increased total protein concentration in the blood (5.63±0.16 mg/dL) (P = 0.01) compared to the control (5.15±0.08mg/dL). Also, all components of blood serum which were within the normal range, indicating that it is safe to use Moringa seeds.

No abstract