Effect of weaning age on growth, mammary gland development, and immune function in Holstein Friesian calves fed conserved alfalfa (FiberStart)

McCoard, S. A.; Heiser, Axel; Lowe, K.; Molenaar, Adrian; Maclean, Paul; Johnstone, P. D.; Leath, Shane; Hoskin, S. O.; Khan, M. A.

doi:10.3168/jds.2018-15615

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…On the other hand, nature of growth retardation caused by weaning immediately after birth is transient which is consistent with some observations made in dairy cattle [23,24]. Capability of fast compensation of retarded growth implies that weaning immediately after birth does not seem to hamper further performance of dairy goats.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Effect of Immediately-After-Birth Weaning on the Development of Goat Kids Born to Small Ruminant Lentivirus-Positive Dams

Nalbert

Czopowicz

Szaluś‐Jordanow

et al. 2019

Animals

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Simple SummaryCaprine arthritis-encephalitis (CAE) is one of the most important and devastating viral diseases of small ruminants in developed countries. The disease spreads easily from one goat to another, and neither curative therapy nor preventive vaccinations exist to break the chain of infections. Hence, the only way to suppress the epidemic in a herd is to identify and cull infected goats. However, it is both costly and cruel as most of them remain apparently healthy for many months or even years, yet they constantly shed the virus. Therefore, many farmers decide to wean kids away from their infected mothers as soon as they are born and keep them in separation, feeding them on bovine or artificial colostrum and milk. Even though this approach is quite effective, it may be recommended only if it has no negative impact on kids’ development. Therefore, we conducted the study which compared the development of kids weaned immediately after birth and kids kept with mothers. We showed that early weaning did not seem to have any detrimental effect on kids’ health. On this basis, we conclude that this procedure may be an advisable alternative for those farmers who cannot afford to implement radical eradication program in their herds.AbstractA longitudinal study was carried out to investigate the influence of two different rearing systems of young kids on their development to sexual maturity. Kids born to small ruminant lentiviruses-infected (SRLV) female goats were split into two groups: the immediately-after-birth weaned group and the unweaned group. Kids’ body weight (BWT) was measured before the first consumption of colostrum, and then at the age of one week, and one, two, four, and seven months. The relationship between the rearing system and BWT at each age was investigated using mixed linear models adjusted for potential confounders. The mean BWT of kids of the immediately-after-birth weaned group was significantly lower at the age of one week, one month, and two months, and then the difference became insignificant. The mean daily body weight gain (DWG) was significantly lower in the immediately-after-birth weaned group during the whole first month of life, but then DWG in both groups became equal. Crude mortality rate did not differ significantly between groups. This study shows that weaning kids immediately after birth does not appear to have any negative impact on kids’ development except transient growth retardation, which is fully compensated until they reach sexual maturity.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Effect of Immediately-After-Birth Weaning on the Development of Goat Kids Born to Small Ruminant Lentivirus-Positive Dams

Nalbert

Czopowicz

Szaluś‐Jordanow

et al. 2019

Animals

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“…A total of 217 candidate genes were detected by both θπ and the CLR test in Dengchuan cattle ( Figure 3A , Supplementary Tables S3, S4 ). Some positively selected genes were reported to be associated with lactation function and disease resistance, such as the butterfat rate [ PPARGC1A ( Weikard et al, 2005 ; Schennink et al, 2009 )], milk production [ B4GALT1 ( Asadollahpour Nanaei et al, 2020 ; Valsalan et al, 2021 )], immunity [ IL2 ( McCoard et al, 2019 ) and NFATC3 ( Hu et al, 2018 )], and mastitis resistance [ ITSN2 ( Miles and Huson, 2020 )]. In particular, ITSN2 was located at the strongest selection signal on BTA11 (11:74700001-74900000).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whole-Genome Sequencing of Endangered Dengchuan Cattle Reveals Its Genomic Diversity and Selection Signatures

Jin

Hanif

et al. 2022

Front. Genet.

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Dengchuan cattle are the only dairy yellow cattle and endangered cattle among Yunnan native cattle breeds. However, its genetic background remains unclear. Here, we performed whole-genome sequencing of ten Dengchuan cattle. Integrating our data with the publicly available data, Dengchuan cattle were observed to be highly interbred than other cattle in the dataset. Furthermore, the positive selective signals were mainly manifested in candidate genes and pathways related to milk production, disease resistance, growth and development, and heat tolerance. Notably, five genes (KRT39, PGR, KRT40, ESR2, and PRKACB) were significantly enriched in the estrogen signaling pathway. Moreover, the missense mutation in the PGR gene (c.190T > C, p.Ser64Pro) showed a homozygous mutation pattern with higher frequency (83.3%) in Dengchuan cattle. In addition, a large number of strong candidate regions matched genes and QTLs related to milk yield and composition. Our research provides a theoretical basis for analyzing the genetic mechanism underlying Dengchuan cattle with excellent lactation and adaptability, crude feed tolerance, good immune performance, and small body size and also laid a foundation for genetic breeding research of Dengchuan cattle in the future.

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“…Others have proposed a linear reduction of milk allowance between 5 to 12 wk (Sweeney et al, 2010;de Passillé and Rushen, 2016;Welboren et al, 2019). However, implementation of weaning through linear or step-down procedures at an early age could still result in decrease in growth of calves (Khan et al, 2007;Eckert et al, 2015;McCoard et al, 2019), and implementation of such procedures is difficult to adopt in many commercial farms where calves are still being fed manually.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of step-down weaning implementation time on growth performance and blood metabolites of dairy calves

Mirzaei

Khanaki

Kazemi-Bonchenari

et al. 2020

Journal of Dairy Science

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The current study evaluated the effects of step-down weaning implementation time on starter feed intake, growth performance, blood metabolites, and ruminal pH in dairy calves. A total of 48 Holstein dairy calves (24 male and 24 female; 3 ± 1 d old; 41.2 ± 1.8 kg of body weight) were assigned (n = 12 per treatment; 6 male and 6 female) to 4 experimental treatments in a completely randomized block design. All calves were fed 6 L/d of milk from d 3 to 10 of age, and the treatments consisted of the following: calves were offered 8 L/d of milk from d 11 to 28 of age and then 4 L/d from d 29 to 63 (Step-28; total milk offered = 326 L); calves were offered 8 L/d of milk from d 11 to 42 of age and then 4 L/d from d 43 to 63 (Step-42; total milk offered = 382 L); calves were offered 8 L/d of milk from d 11 to 56 of age and 4 L/d from d 57 to 63 (Step-56; total milk intake = 438 L); and calves were fed 8 L/d of milk from d 11 to 63 of age and abruptly weaned (control; total milk offered = 466 L). All calves were housed individually in pens and had ad libitum access to water and solid feed throughout the experiment. All calves were completely milk weaned on d 64, and their performance was measured until d 80 of age. During the experiment, the starter intake (kg/d and % of body weight) was greater in calves in the Step-28 group compared with those in the other groups. However, the total metabolizable energy intake was greater in the Step-56 calves compared with the other calves. Overall, the average daily gain (ADG), feed efficiency (ADG/dry matter intake), and ADG/total metabolizable energy intake were similar across the treatments. Circulating glucose, β-hydroxybutyrate, blood urea nitrogen, albumin, total protein, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate ami-notransferase, as well as ruminal pH, were not affected by the treatments. The implementation of step-down weaning in early life (4-6 wk of age) could stimulate solid feed intake compared with weaning at a later age with no negative effect on performance.

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Effect of weaning age on growth, mammary gland development, and immune function in Holstein Friesian calves fed conserved alfalfa (FiberStart)

Cited by 12 publications

References 32 publications

Effect of Immediately-After-Birth Weaning on the Development of Goat Kids Born to Small Ruminant Lentivirus-Positive Dams

Effect of Immediately-After-Birth Weaning on the Development of Goat Kids Born to Small Ruminant Lentivirus-Positive Dams

Whole-Genome Sequencing of Endangered Dengchuan Cattle Reveals Its Genomic Diversity and Selection Signatures

Effects of step-down weaning implementation time on growth performance and blood metabolites of dairy calves

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