Some preliminary observations of the performance of Friesian x Malawi crossbred dairy calves weaned at eight and twelve weeks of age
1992
Banda, J.W. | Karua, S.K. (Bunda College of Agriculture, Lilongwe (Malawi))
Twelve Friesian x Malawi Zebu crossbred dairy calves, six males and six females purchased within one week, were randomly allocated to either early (8-week) or late 12 week) weaning age treatments at random. Within each treatment, the calves were separated according to sex making a 2 x 2 factorial experiment. Calves were housed and fed in groups of three. They were offered whole milk at 8 -10% of their weight given twice daily. A concentrate, hay and water were available ad libitum. Intakes of the concentrate and hay and also the live weights of calves were recorded once per week. Milk intake, and incidence of scours were recorded daily. Late weaned calves gained more rapidly (0.55 v. 0.37 kg/day), consumed less feed per day (1.97 v. 2.67 kg), per kg of liveweight gain (1.32 v. 2.28 kg), per 100 kg body weight (4.14 v. 5.38 kg) and per metabolic body size (0.011 v. 0.14 kg/kg(0.75)) than the early weaned calves. Sex of the calves and the interaction between weaning age and sex did not influence any of the variables recorded. In comparison with published information, growth rates of calves on early weaning system are moderate and acceptable, though they were less than for the calves on late weaning. The early weaning system resulted in savings of up to K49.57 per calf over the costs incurred on late weaning system on feeds and labour costs. It is concluded that some farmers with economic consciousness and better management skills could wean their calves as early as 8 weeks old. Further suggestions on performing a similar trial are made
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