Forage and sugar in dairy calves' starter diet and their interaction on performance, weaning age and rumen fermentation

Abstract

The effects of sugar and forage inclusion in calves' starter and their interaction on animal performance and rumen fermentation parameters were investigated. Twenty-eight neonatal Holstein male calves 3 days of age with average body weights of 42 ± 4 kg were allocated to four different treatments. All calves were fed a similar basal diet consisting of milk and concentrate. The experimental treatments were: (i) basal diet with no supplementation (Control, hereafter designated by C), (ii) basal diet plus 5% granular sugar cane (Sugar, designated by S), (iii) basal diet plus 5% forage (Forage, designated by F) and (iv) basal diet plus 5% forage with 5% granular sugar cane (F × S). Supplement ingredients were used on a dry matter (DM) basis. Rumen fluid parameters were measured twice on days 35 and 70 of the study period. The calves were weaned when they could consume 1 kg of starter for three consecutive days. The results show that starter intake was not affected by treatment; however, the lowest ADG was observed with calves in the sugar treatment. Weaning age was affected by treatments, and forage showed to reduce milk consumption period down to its shortest. Forage-sugar interaction was found to have no effects on animal performance. The structural body indices as well as the health status of the calves were similar in different treatments. Rumen pH did not differ among the treatment groups. Among the rumen parameters, total VFA concentration and molar proportions of butyrate and propionate did not exhibit any significant differences among the treatments. However, ruminal acetate concentration decreased in calves that fed sugar cane during the early weeks of the study period. Comparison of forage and sugar included in the starter diets revealed that forage reduced weaning age, while sugar cane had a negative effect on calves' performance.

Performance, nutritional behavior, and metabolic responses of calves supplemented with forage depend on starch fermentability

“…in other studies (Ghassemi Nejad et al, 2012;Terré et al, 2015;Mirzaei et al, 2016). Results of body measurements herein are in agreement with others, who found that most skeletal growth parameters were similar in calves supplemented with or without forage in starter diet (Beiranvand et al, 2014a;. However, in contrast to our results, it has been reported that heart girth and body barrel were lower (Maktabi et al, 2016) or higher (Daneshvar et al, 2015) in calves receiving AH compared with those not receiving hay.…”

Whole-flint corn grain or tropical grass hay free choice in the diet of dairy calves

“…In the past 2 decades, studies reporting the addition of forages in the diets observed negative effects when preweaning calves were fed free-choice high-quality forages, such as chopped alfalfa hay (17% CP and 47% NDF), with forage intake up to 14% of the total DMI (Terré et al, 2013b). The high palatability of this forage may depress the concentrate intake, resulting in a replacement effect, due to the low intake capacity of young calves (Beiranvand et al, 2014). Feeding high-quality forages tends to result in a higher forage: concentrate ratio than when the straw is fed (Castells et al, 2012).…”

Effects of feeding hay and calf starter as a mixture or as separate components to Holstein calves on intake, growth, and blood metabolite and hormone concentrations

“…Chopped hay and starter can also be combined and provided as a mixture to promote more consistent hay intake. If mixing hay and calf starter increases solid feed intake, it also has the potential to influence the growth and development of the calf (Beiranvand et al, 2014a). However, no recommendation exists for how hay should be provided to young calves for optimal growth and development.…”