Aim:The objective of study was to investigate the effects of drinking water on certain physiological parameters such as heart rate (HR), respiration rate (RR), rectal temperature (RT) and, ruminal motility (RM).Materials and Methods:The experiment was carried out on 18 farm bred lactating crossbred cows. The animals selected for the study were divided into three groups of six animals each on the basis of milk yield and parity and were allotted to three treatment group of six each such as ambient drinking water temperature at 10.25±0.28°C (ambient water, T1), drinking water temperature at 15-20°C (T2) and drinking water temperature at 35-40°C (T3). All the managemental practices were kept similar during experiment except drinking water temperatures physiological variables such as HR, RR, RT, and RM of the individual cow was measured and recorded twice in a day at 800 h and again at 1400 h two consecutive days in a week 15 min after providing drinking water.Result:HR and RR at morning and at evening recorded were within the normal physiological level for all the treatment groups. However, RT at morning was comparable in all the treatments whereas at evening it was significantly (p<0.01) higher for cows consuming in T2 and in T3 than cows consumed (T1). The RM during morning among the treatments were non-significant as compared to the rumen motility at evening was significantly higher for (T1) and (T2) than for cows in (T3).Conclusion:It can be concluded that offering warm drinking water at 35-40°C to crossbred lactating dairy cow is beneficial during winter at high altitude temperate region.

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The aim was to find out the influence of suckling and non-suckling system of rearing on growth performance of indigenous Tharparkar calves.Materials and Methods: A total of 14 Tharparkar calves was randomly divided into two groups. The Group 1 (G-1) was suckling group, in which calves were allowed to suckle from the same dam twice a day before/after milking from birth to 90 days of age, while in Group 2 (G 2), calves were weaned (non-suckling) immediately after birth (1 st day weaning). The non-suckling calves were fed with colostrum within few hours after birth and twice daily for 3 days at the rate of 10% of live body weight (LBW) and later, kept under pail feeding till 71 days of age along with calf starter and green fodder as per the Indian Veterinary Research Institute protocol. The experimental trial was continued for 90 days of age of calf from its birth. Observations regarding various growth performances were made following standard procedures and the data obtained were statistically analyzed by SPSS program version 17. Results:The effect of rearing system was found to be significantly (p≤0.05) higher for G 1 calves on 15 days LBW whereas it was highly significant (p≤0.01) on LBW's at subsequent readings as compared to G 2 calves. For average daily gain (ADG) (g/day), G 1 calves showed highly significant (p≤0.01) value than G 2 calves during 0-30 days (447.62±58.13 in G 1 vs. 176.19±15.79 in G 2) and 31-60 days (614.29±77.27 in G 1 vs. 233.33±37.80 in G 2) and remained statistically significant (p≤0.05) between 61 and 90 days. On different body measurements, effect of system of rearing was non-significant up to 15 days. From 30 days onwards, higher significant values for G 1 calves were observed for heart girth and body length whereas for body height significant results were obtained from 45 days onward. This superiority in all growth parameters expressed by suckling system calves might be due to longer duration of milk feeding and more intake of milk as compared to that of non-sucking group. Conclusion:Therefore present study was concluded that the calves reared under suckling system attained higher LBW, ADG in body weight and body measurements than the non-suckling group of Tharparkar calves.