Growth and development of calves depending on the method of feeding with cereal and milk

Abstract

The article studies the influence of the milk feeding method on the growth and development of calves. The object of research is newborn Samara black-motley calves. It was established that after drinking the first portion of colostrum, immunoglobulin appears in the blood of calves in 2 hours. Immunoglobulin enters the bloodstream in the first 12 hours of life. The highest content of immunoglobulin (23.40 mg/ml) was observed after 48 hours in case of free suckling. It exceeded that in peers fed manually by 6.7-8.9%. Depending on the feeding scheme and method, the heifers consumed 497.0-509.4 kg of milk for three months in case of manual feeding, 589.5 kg for two months in case of free suckling, and 540.3 kg in case of regulated suckling. The technology of milk feeding, the time spent with a mother, the amount of milk consumed had a significant impact on the health of calves. The degree of calf morbidity had a significant impact on the growth and development of young animals. As a result of a greater consumption of milk and large volumes of feed, heifers under regulated suckling had a larger live weight than their peers aged 18 months by 11.1% (P <0.001) (in comparison with the peers from group I), by 16.0% (P <0.001) (in comparison with the peers from group II), by 17.5% (P <0.001) (in comparison with the peers from group III), by 4.7% (P <0.05) (in comparison with the peers from group IV).