Health and Performance of Holstein Calves that Suckled or Were Hand-Fed Colostrum and Were Fed One of Three Physical Forms of Starter

Abstract

Intake of colostrum by neonatal calves and early transition to calf starter are two important factors in successful calf programs. Thirty-one Holstein calves were used to determine health and performance of calves that were 1) allowed to remain with their dams for 3 d and suckle (suckled calves) or were removed from their dams and fed colostrum only by bottle (bottle calves); and were 2) fed ground, pelleted, or textured starters, formulated to be isonitrogenous. Bottle calves were removed from their dams at birth, fed 2.84 L of colostrum, placed in individual hutches, and fed 1.89 L of colostrum 12 h after the first feeding. Suckled calves were removed from their dams after 3 d and placed in individual hutches. Once calves were housed in hutches, they were fed 2 L of whole milk twice daily and were provided starters and water beginning on d 3. Calves were weighed at birth and weekly for 6 wk. Blood samples were obtained at birth, 24 h, and weekly for serum protein determination. Starter intake, fecal scores, and electrolyte treatments were recorded daily. Weaning began when calves had consumed 0.68 kg starter for 2 d consecutively. There were no differences in treatment means between suckled and bottle calves for total gain, grain consumption, days with fecal scores >2, or electrolyte treatments per calf. Average days to weaning was greater for bottle calves compared with suckled calves. Mean serum protein concentration at 24 h was greater for bottle (6.0 g/dl) compared with suckled calves (5.8 g/dl) and only 2 of 15 bottle calves had serum protein concentrations <5.0 g/dl compared with 6 of 16 suckled calves. For starter treatments, calves fed textured starter consumed more total grain, were weaned earlier, and weighed more at 6 wk of age than calves fed pelleted starter. Based on 24-h serum protein concentrations, transfer of passive immunity was greater for bottle calves compared with suckled calves.

Determining optimum age of Holstein dairy calves when adding chopped alfalfa hay to meal starter diets based on measures of growth and performance

“…The starter was a fine meal, which may have been poorly consumed compared with coarse textured feeds. The starch came mostly from barley, which is a rapidly fermentable source (Rooney and Pflugfelder, 1986;Franklin et al, 2003). Consumption of hay may have therefore helped reducing possibility of acidosis in calves receiving AH as calves on CON diet (no dietary AH included) showed reduced rumen pH on weeks 8 and 10 (pH~5 to 5.2 when compared with pH of 5.5 or greater in weeks 4 and 6).…”

A survey of dairy calf management practices in some producing regions in Brazil

“…In these situations, the colostrum intake in an acceptable amount and time can be reduced since the newborn vigor, concentration of immunoglobulin, udder conformation, and maternal ability will have direct correlations with intake (Franklin et al, 2003).…”

Desempenho e desenvolvimento do trato digestório superior de bezerros leiteiros alimentados com concentrado de diferentes formas físicas

“…Todavia, embora o efeito da idade tenha sido observado, a interação idade × forma física do concentrado não foi significativa. Greenwood et al (1997) demonstraram que bezerros podem ser desaleitados de forma adequada quando apresentam consumo equivalente a 1,5% do seu peso ao nascer. Neste experimento, os animais de ambos os grupos apresentaram consumo de concentrado adequado para o desaleitamento já a partir da sexta semana de vida.…”

“…Em alguns trabalhos recentes, pesquisadores avaliaram o efeito da forma física do concentrado inicial e não observaram diferenças no consumo ou no ganho de peso ao compararem concentrados peletizados com farelados para bezerros em aleitamento (Franklin et al, 2003;Veloso et al, 2006;Ziegler et al, 2006). Por outro lado, Warner (1991) verificou que bezerros alimentados com ração de forma física grosseira apresentaram maior ganho de peso e maior eficiência alimentar em comparação a bezerros alimentados com a ração na forma farelada.…”