Growth performances and carcass characteristics of veal calves fed acidified whole milk and milk replacer

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the growth performances and carcass characteristics of male veal calves fed at different levels of acidified whole milk and milk replacer. Twenty-four male Holstein- Friesian 75% crossbred calves with an initial average live weight of 35.44±1.73 kg were allotted into 4 groups under a completely randomized design (CRD) for 90 days. Group 1 received 100% whole acidified milk (AM), group 2 received 75% AM and 25% milk replacer (MR), group 3 received 50% AM and 50% MR and group 4 received 100% MR. All groups received 10% body weight of liquid diet, 2% live weight of starter feed and ad libitum of rice straw. After 90 days, the calves in group 1 showed the best final live weight (98.33 kg) followed by groups 2 (75.08 kg), 3 (70.00 kg) and 4 (57.36 kg) (P0.05) in the percentage of fore-quarter and hind-quarter between the treatments. Considering production costs, calves in group 1 showed the lowest cost per live weight gain (53.31 baht/kg gain), followed by group 2 (64.39 baht/kg gain), 3 (77.74 baht/kg gain) and 4 (116.82 baht/kg gain), respectively.

Keywords

• growth performances
• carcass characteristics
• veal calf
• acidified whole milk
• milk replacer