Prospects of raising Sahiwal cow calves for veal production under tropical environment

Abstract

The objective of present study was to evaluate the growth potential of Sahiwal calves for veal production on whole milk or whole milk and milk replacer combined in a ratio of 50:50 (MMR). For this purpose, 48 Sahiwal calves (both male and female) were assigned to four dietary treatments having 12 animals/treatment. Calves in the treatments A and B were offered whole milk at 15 or 20% of their body weight (BW), respectively, up to day 84 adjusted on weekly basis. The calves in treatments C and D received the same amount of milk as in treatments A and B until day 21, respectively, after which 50% of the milk offered was replaced with a blend of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) flour and vegetable (corn) oil mixed in water (MR) until day 84. The constituted MR had 3.1, 2.8, and 14.3%, CP, EE, and DM, respectively. The growth and intake data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis, with MIXED Procedures of SAS in a 2 × 2 factorial design. The two factors were feeding level and feeding source. Calves offered whole milk grew faster (P<0.05) and had greater weaning weights (P<0.05) than those offered MMR (606.4 ± 18.1 vs 331.3 ± 18.1 g/day and 70.4 ± 1.5 vs 47.8 ± 1.5 kg, respectively). Greatest daily BW gain (656 ± 26 g/day) and weaning weight (74.6 ± 2.1 kg) were observed in calves given treatment B while the lowest production cost/kg of BW gain (≈US$3.6 ± 0.2) was observed in calves given treatment A. The daily BW gain of calves fed milk ad libitum was 716 ± 40 and 836 ± 40 g/day, during 5-8 and 9-12 weeks, respectively. The number of days calves exhibited scours was higher in calves offered MMR than those offered whole milk. Replacement of 50% milk with a blend of chickpea flour and vegetable oil, as an alternative to milk replacer, did not support growth equivalent to whole milk and was not effective in reducing feeding cost during the weaning period. Sahiwal calves may have promise for being raised for veal production under tropical environments.

Effect of weaning age and milk feeding volume on growth performance of Nili-Ravi buffalo calves

“…This low milk intake in buffalo calves resulted in lower growth rate and lower body weights than expected on such milk volumes. Mortality was also higher in buffalo calves than in Sahiwal calves raised in our previous studies (Bhatti et al 2012a;Bhatti et al 2013). Overall mortality was 20%.…”

“…An initial challenge faced was separating buffalo calves from their dams and weaning them onto artificial feeding through nipples. Feeding buffalo calves through nipples was more difficult than Sahiwal cow calves raised previously (Bhatti et al 2012a(Bhatti et al , 2013 in separate experiments. During the current trial, two of the buffalo calves did not accept nipple feeding until the end of the experiment and thus were removed from the study.…”

“…Cheema et al (2016) reported that Sahiwal calves fed milk at 15% of body weight had higher milk intake than calves fed milk at the rate of 10% of body weight. Bhatti et al (2013) reported that milk feeding ad libitum in Sahiwal calves resulted in higher intake of milk than low milk volumes.…”