Effect of sucking period on growth performance, blood metabolites, and behavior in Japanese Black calves
2017
Higashiyama, Y. (Tohoku Agricultural Research Center, NARO, Morioka (Japan)) | Komatsu, T. | Fukasawa, M.
We investigated the effect of suckling period on growth performance, blood metabolites, and behavior of Japanese Black calves under high-roughage feeding. Seven cow-calf pairs were divided into a 7.5-month (4 pairs) and a 3-month weaning group (3 pairs). The cow and calf in the 7.5-month weaning group lived together until the calf was about 7.5 months old. In the 3-month weaning group, the calves were completely weaned at about 3 months of age. All the calves were fed roughage ad libitum. The average daily gain in the weight of calves was 1.1kg/day in the 7.5-month weaning group and 0.7kg/day in the 3-month weaning group. The feed intake of the calves did not differ between the two groups. The concentration of beta-hydroxybutyric acid in the plasma of the calves was considerably higher after weaning in the 3-month weaning group. It increased with age in the 7.5-month weaning group and did not differ between the two groups at 7.5 months of age. In the 7.5-month weaning group, the lying time and the sleeping posture time per day were generally longer than in the 3-month weaning group, and the time that the calf licked from the cow at 3 months of age, when the study was started, was almost the same as it was at 7 months of age. These results indicate that the growth performance of calves was improved and their blood metabolites and behavior differed when the suckling period was extended from these parameters determined in the calves weaned at 3 months of age, under high-roughage feeding.
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