The impact of milk suckling protocol and schedule on body weight and some morphometric measurements of Holstein heifers

Abstract

Having a successful heifer raising operation is not only relevant financially, but also influential for the future of the dairy herds. Milk feeding has a significant role on the health and growth of calves before weaning, in addition to the direct progressive effects on future performance post-weaning. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the effects of constants amount of milk (CMS) versus step-up/step-down (SUSD) on calf performance in two different suckling schedules of suckling milk gradually till 9th weeks of calf age, then decreasing it till weaning. For this study, forty Holstein heifers calves utilized between birth and 8 months of age were randomly divided into four groups of 10 calves each. Grouping was performed according to suckling protocol (constant versus variable) and suckling schedule (2 versus 3 times/day). Each calf suckled 600 kg of milk in a suckling period of 120 days. Body weight (BW), in addition to five body measurements: chest girth (CG), height at wither (HW), height at rump (HR), body length (BL), and diagonal length (DL), were recorded weekly. The heaviest BW was observed on SUSD calves suckling twice/day which had also the highest HW at weaning. Similarly, were BW, HW, and CG at 6 months of age. Also, the same group achieved the largest daily BW (0.902 kg/day), BL (0.246 cm), and CG (0.338 cm/day) gains during the pre-weaning phase. However, CMS suckled 3 times/day calves had the largest daily BW gain between birth and 6 or 8 months of age. CMS twice/day calves had the largest daily gain in CG from weaning to 6 months and from weaning to 8 months of age followed by SUSD suckling 3 times/day calves. Also, CMS twice/day calves had the largest daily gain in rump height from birth to 8 months of age compared to other groups. It can be concluded that when equal amounts of milk were fed during the suckling period, suckling protocol affected growth rate before weaning but that effect diminished as calf age increased after weaning.

Effects of alkaline mineral complex supplementation on production performance, serum variables, and liver transcriptome in calves

“…Feeding and management of calves at a young age are crucial for the growth, health, and future production performance of dairy cows. The BW of calves reflects their growth and development and is related to the incidence of diseases, reproductive performance, and milk yield ( 39 ). CD could have an impact on the BW of calves, which is negatively correlated with BW even after recovery from CD, and the ADG of calves could decrease ( 40 ).…”

“…The CD rate is related to age; calves are at a high risk for CD and death in early life, and CD in the first 3 weeks of life is a major cause of death (34,35). With the growth and development of calves, their immunity improves and their CD rate decreases (36,37). Alkaline mineral complex water contains silicates, which have antiinflammatory properties and can effectively treat diarrhea (38).…”