Effect of Different Rearing during the Milk-Feeding Period on Growth of Dairy Calves

Abstract

The objective was to determine the impact of calves’ rearing, gender, and the sire lineage on the growth and health. One hundred-and-five Holstein calves were assigned to one of three treatments: single suckling (SS), multiple suckling (MS), and artificially rearing in hutches (H). All calves received a comparable amount of milk/milk replacer (MR) across treatments. All calves were weaned at the 84th day. After weaning, all calves were separated by sex in age-balanced groups. At weaning, the highest body weight was in MS and the lowest in H (SS 94.97 kg, MS 109.85 kg, H 80.80 kg, p p p p > 0.05). The Sire 1 progeny showed a lower body weight at 180 days (p p < 0.05). The results indicate that the method used to rear calves and sire lines had a significant impact on their later performance.

Keywords

• calves
• feeding
• housing
• weaning
• animal welfare