The Effect Of Milk Replacer And Starter On Growth And Develpment In Calves

Calf is the cattle from birth to six months. Calf feeding is an important part of cow production.This stage is short, but it is very complex. First, breading well at calf stage can help calf establishnormal rumen function as soon as possible so that it lay a good foundation for the digestion of roughagein adult stage to give full play to the production performance of genetic potential. Second, breedinggood calf can make replacement heifers to raise well, to meet the requirements of the weight and heightof breeding in13-14months after birth, shorten the day-old of production, and create economic benefitsfor dairy farms as soon as possible.In the test,33Holstein calves were selected and were randomly divided into three groups, namedthe control group, the experimental group A and B. As a result, each group had11calves. The test groupA employed two kinds of milk replacer at two stages separately. That is, the calves were fed1st milkreplacer since four-days-old and then were fed the2nd milk replacerat22-days-old until ablactation.Meanwhile, the experimental group B was fed the2nd milk replacer from4-days-old to ablactation. Theresults showed that the daily gained weight of the calves fed in two stages were slightly lower than thecontrol group, but was slightly higher than the calves which were fed only by one milk replacer ofwhich the mainly composition was plant-derived protein (P>0.05). The milk replacer had nosignificant effect on the calves’ health, and each group of calves had no remarkable difference indiarrhea rates (P>0.05). What’s more, feeding the milk replacer could reduce the cost of cultivationwhich the of the group A and B reduced198.8yuan and222.0yuan respectively than the control group.The import and domestic alfalfa hay samples and the alfalfa leaf and alfalfa stems in Tianjin areawere collected, and the nutrients of each sample were measured. The results showed that compared withalfalfa stems, the crude protein content of alfalfa leaf was103.8%higher, the neutral detergent fiber was106.1%lower, and the acid detergent fiber was138.4%lower. Therefore, the alfalfa leaves can be usedas an efficient cellulose source of the starting feed and the weaning transition feed for calf.Adding alfalfa will affect the rate of powder of pellets. The powder rate of pellets was studiedwhen adding different proportions of expanded corn in the granulation process. The results indicatedthat the powder rate of pellets reduced when50%corn was replaced by expanded corn.22male Holstein calves were selected and were randomly divided into two groups, the controlgroup and the test group, each groups were11calve. The test group calves began to feed the1st starterdiets since7-days-old and then fed the2nd transitional feed after ablactation. At the same time, thecontrol group was fed the3rd starter and ad libitum the alfalfa, from7-days-old. All calves weaned at40days. The body size, growth performance and rumen development of the situation of two groups ofcalves were compared at60days. The results showed that:In the test, the alfalfa leaf meal was added in starter diets by a certain percentage. The proteinlevels of the1st starter diets and the weaning transition material were17-18%. The control group didn’tadd alfalfa meal and the crude protein content was20%. The daily gained weight and body sizes of the two groups had no notable differences. Therefore, it could meet the need of nutrition when the crudeprotein content of the starter reach18%. The calves’ daily gain of the test group was lower than thecontrol group between0-60days. But the difference between the two groups was not significant (P>0.05). In calves’ body height, body length, chest, hip width and pipe circumference, the control groupand the test group also did not differ significantly (P>0.05).The test showed that, when the calves were fed by starter diets and transitional material, in whichthe expanded corn flour and alfalfa leaf meal were added, the calves’ rumen development has promoted.Compared with the control group, the rumen papillae height and width of the experimental group hadsignificant improvements. Thus, the starter diets and weaning transition material developed in thisexperiment l plays a significant role in promoting the development of calves’ rumen.