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Nutrient composition (DM basis, % unless otherwise noted) of whole milk, milk replacer powder (MRP), starter, corn silage, and treatments
Source publication
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects on feed intake, heifer performance, and health of increasing the total solids (TS) content of liquid feed (whole milk) by adding increasing amounts of milk replacer powder during the pre-and postweaning periods. Crossbred Holstein-Gyr heifers (n = 60) were assigned to 1 of 4 treatments (n = 15 per g...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... 5 d, heifers were assigned to 1 of 4 treat- ment groups (n = 15 per group), maintaining a balance of birth month, birth BW, total serum protein, and genetic composition in each group. Treatments con- sisted of increasing amounts of MRP (Sprayfo Violet SSP, Sloten B. V., Deventer, the Netherlands; Table 1) added to 6 L/d of whole milk (12.6 ± 0.7% TS, mean ± SD; Table 1) to adjust TS to expected concentrations of 12.5, 15.0, 17.5, and 20.0% of liquid feed. The initial TS content in the whole milk was measured daily, im- mediately after milking and before each feeding, using a Brix refractometer (DD-3 Palm Abbe Digital, Misco, Solon, OH). ...
Context 2
... 5 d, heifers were assigned to 1 of 4 treat- ment groups (n = 15 per group), maintaining a balance of birth month, birth BW, total serum protein, and genetic composition in each group. Treatments con- sisted of increasing amounts of MRP (Sprayfo Violet SSP, Sloten B. V., Deventer, the Netherlands; Table 1) added to 6 L/d of whole milk (12.6 ± 0.7% TS, mean ± SD; Table 1) to adjust TS to expected concentrations of 12.5, 15.0, 17.5, and 20.0% of liquid feed. The initial TS content in the whole milk was measured daily, im- mediately after milking and before each feeding, using a Brix refractometer (DD-3 Palm Abbe Digital, Misco, Solon, OH). ...
Context 3
... 56 d, the total volume of liquid feed was reduced by half (3 L/d provided at 0800 h only) and heifers were weaned at 60 d. Starter (Soylac Rumen 20% Flocculated, Total Alimentos, Três Corações, Brazil; Table 1) and water were offered ad libitum throughout the experimental period. During the postweaning period, at 70 d, corn silage was included in the diet (Table 1). ...
Context 4
... (Soylac Rumen 20% Flocculated, Total Alimentos, Três Corações, Brazil; Table 1) and water were offered ad libitum throughout the experimental period. During the postweaning period, at 70 d, corn silage was included in the diet (Table 1). The amount of starter and corn silage provided was sufficient to result in 10% orts. ...
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... samples were collected twice a day (morning and afternoon) and analyzed for TS, CP, and fat content us- ing an infrared analyzer (Bentley model 2000, Bentley Instruments Inc., Chaska, MN; Table 1). Samples from liquid feed treatments were collected daily, composed by month, lyophilized, and analyzed for nutritional composition (AOAC, 1990; Table 1). ...
Context 6
... samples were collected twice a day (morning and afternoon) and analyzed for TS, CP, and fat content us- ing an infrared analyzer (Bentley model 2000, Bentley Instruments Inc., Chaska, MN; Table 1). Samples from liquid feed treatments were collected daily, composed by month, lyophilized, and analyzed for nutritional composition (AOAC, 1990; Table 1). The osmolality of the liquid feed was measured using an osmometer (Micro-Osmette, Natick, MA). ...
Context 7
... actual concentrations of TS in the whole milk + MRP were 13.5, 16.1, 18.2, and 20.4% TS (Table 1) for the proposed diets of 12.5, 15.0, 17.5, and 20.0% TS, respectively. ...
Context 8
... is also important to point out that the MRP used in the present study contained probiotics (Table 1), so the heifers fed more TS also received higher amounts of probiotics in the liquid feed. Therefore, even though we saw no difference in fecal score among treatments (Table 2), variations in the amount of probiotics pro- vided may represent a confounding factor, indicating that further studies are needed to better understand this effect. ...
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In this study, the effect of average daily concentrate consumption on calf weaning time and performance was studied for better calf raising performances. Forty male calves were allocated to four treatments. The first and second groups consisted of weaned groups on days 35 and 70 which only considers the duration, regardless of the consumption of th...
Citations
... Several research studies have indicated a positive correlation between elevated DM content in milk, ranging from 17.6% to 20.4%, and enhanced calf performance [41][42][43][44]. Particularly, these studies primarily focused on performance metrics without delving into health and behavioral aspects. ...
... Remarkably, this modification failed to impact the consumption of solid feed or overall health. However, our study possibly diverged from these findings, potentially because our diets contained a lower total solids concentration of 14% compared with the concentration of 20.4% [42]. ...
Young calves are more susceptible to cold than older animals due to their limited ability to regulate body temperature and lack of fat reserves and may have difficulty consuming the energy needed to cope with the cold by maintaining body temperature and meeting their metabolic needs, especially when fed constant levels of waste milk (WM) with less solids, which can be detrimental to health and future performance. An alternative to overcome this problem is increasing the milk’s solids content to the existing volume by using different sources [milk replacer powder (MR) or transition milk (TM)]. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the effects of increasing the total solids of WM via MR (WM+MR) or TM (WM+TM) on the performance, feeding behavior, and health-related variables of cold-stressed dairy calves during pre- and post-weaning. We hypothesized that feeding WM supplemented with MR or TM as potential liquid feed enhancers would improve milk dry matter and energy intake of the calves with a positive impact on body development and have no negative impact on feeding behavior and health. Additionally, we hypothesized that MR would not differ from TM. As a sample size calculation at 80% power using power analysis (PROC POWER) in SAS 9.4, a total of 51 Holstein-Friesian vigorous male calves [vigor score 21–27; 17 per treatment; 4-d old; body weight (BW) = 40.0 ± 0.63 kg (mean ± SD)] were selected, assigned randomly to treatments, and housed in individual pens in an outdoor barn. Irrespective of the type of treatment, all calves were fed 6 kg/d liquid feed from d 1 to d 53 of the experiment. In a step-down weaning program, calves received 0.5 kg liquid feed from d 54 to d 60. All calves were weaned on d 61 and remained in the study until d 101 as post-weaning evaluation. The calves had ad libitum access to starter feed and fresh drinking water across the experiment. Intake, growth, and behavior data were analyzed using a general linear mixed model and health data were analyzed using mixed logistic regression, mixed linear regression, and survival analysis models in SAS. We found that supplementation was responsible for a greater dry matter intake (DMI; P = 0.004), superior average BW (P = 0.037), and increased crude protein (CP; P = 0.001) and crude fat (CF; P = 0.001) intakes, with the most favorable outcomes observed for the WM+TM group when compared with WM+MR. Animals fed WM (control group; CON) showed a smaller average daily gain during the first 40-d of life (P = 0.026), showing slight changes during the whole period of evaluation when compared with the supplemented groups (SUP; WM+MR and WM+TM). No difference between MR- and TM-SUP groups, probability of having abnormal appearance (P = 0.032) and pneumonia occurrence (P = 0.022) was reduced in the SUP than in CON animals, with no effect on diarrhea among treatment groups (P = 0.461). Using milk supplements added to WM is an alternative to improve the intake, performance, and health of young calves under cold stress. Our findings showed that SUP animals outperformed the CON group in terms of DMI, average BW, and intake of CP and CF, with the TM-SUP group displaying the most favorable outcomes. Moreover, the SUP groups demonstrated reduced odds of experiencing abnormal appearance and pneumonia, highlighting the positive impact of supplementation on calf health.
... Although increasing liquid feed intake frequently decreases starter feed intake (Khan et al., 2007;Silper et al., 2014;Hu et al., 2020) in dairy calves, Azevedo et al. (2016a) indicated that offering a liquid feed with greater concentration of TS (up to 20.4%) increased ADG and skeletal growth without negative effect on starter feed intake during pre-and post-weaning periods. In a recent study, Shiasi Sardoabi et al. (2021) showed that offering liquid feed with 17% TS compared with 12% TS increased feed efficiency and improved skeletal growth of dairy calves. ...
... An increase in liquid feed osmolality could lead to an increase in incidence of diarrhea in dairy calves due to greater water flux in the intestines (Glosson et al., 2015). Glosson et al. (2015) and Azevedo et al. (2016a) fed calves with diets containing 17.6 to 18% solids without issues related to osmolality, and so we chose to limit TS to 18% in this study. ...
... Research has shown beneficial effects of increasing liquid feed TS on calf health, performance, and nonnutritive oral behaviors (Azevedo et al., 2016a); however, the optimum time of increasing liquid feed TS has not been defined. It is essential to find a balance between liquid feeding and starter diet intake to ensure the best outcomes for calves. ...
... The use of milk replacers (MR) has several benefits, such as the independence of the milking schedule to feed calves, consistent liquid diet composition [5], and the possibility of offering a high-solids liquid diet. Feeding more solids in the liquid diet increases dry matter (DM) intake and weight gain [6] without challenging calves to consume higher volumes, especially when two meals are adopted, or calves are very young. Nonetheless, the high costs have caused the dairy industry to search for ingredients with a high biological value that can replace current ingredients in formulations without negatively impacting animal health and performance. ...
... Comparing similar solids feeding levels, the contribution of energy (Mcal) from MR with higher lactose and lower fat results in lower metabolizable energy (ME) intake than WM [10]. Because of that, increasing the supply of total solids in the liquid diet above 12.5% when feeding MR may increase the performance of dairy calves [6], close to what is observed with milk feeding. Feeding more solids may be done by changing the dilution rate of a particular MR or adding a corrector, which usually presents higher protein levels, in milk or a 12.5% diluted MR. ...
... The CP:ME (g/Mcal) was higher for WMP, but using a corrector efficiently increased this ratio in the MR. Besides that, ADG may be more positively related to higher total solids intake, as observed in our data and other studies [6,29,33]. ...
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate the effect of feeding milk replacer (MR) with varying levels of lactose and the increased supply of total solids (from 750 to 960 g/d) on performance, blood metabolites, and health of Holstein male calves during the preweaning period.
Methods:
Forty newborn Holstein calves (10 per treatment) were blocked according to birth weight and date of birth and distributed in a randomized block design to different liquid diets: Whole milk powder (WMP) diluted to 125 g/L solids; MR with 48% lactose (48L), diluted to 125 g/L solids; MR with 53% lactose (53L), diluted to 125 g/L solids; 53L MR corrected to 160 g/L solids (16TS) by the inclusion of a solid corrector. Calves were individually housed in wood hutches, fed 6 L/d of the liquid diet, and had free water and starter concentrate access. The study lasted 56 days.
Results:
Liquid diet intake was higher for calves fed 16TS than for other treatments. Calves fed 16TS presented higher protein and fat intake, followed by those fed WMP and the 48L or 53L milk replacers. Lactose intake was higher for 16TS-fed calves, followed by 53L, 48L, and WMP-fed calves. Starter and total dry matter intake did not differ among liquid diets. The average daily gain was higher for 16TS than 48L-fed calves, with the other treatments being intermediary. The lowest feed efficiency was observed for calves fed 48L. No effects on health were observed, as well as on selected blood metabolites, except for albumin concentration, which was higher for calves fed 16TS and WMP.
Conclusion:
Higher total solids content (160 g/L) in milk replacer increases nutrient intake and consequently improves the performance of dairy calves. Feeding milk replacers with levels of lactose up to 53% of the DM had no deleterious effect on the performance or health of the calves.
... These include the reduction in starter intake and the possible delay of rumen development, with consequent weight loss after weaning. Additional concerns are the refusal of large volumes of milk or MR in the first weeks of life by calves born with lower BW and the reduction in the volume of milk to be sold, impairing profitability (Azevedo et al., 2016a). It is important to note that some production systems are limited by the physical size of the feeding program (i.e., 2-L bottles) that limit the volume that can be fed in 1 feeding. ...
... The groups received 13.5, 16.1, 18.2, and 20.4% of TS in the liquid diet, in a final volume of 6 L/d, until 56 d of age. Male calves were slaughtered for body composition and digestive tract development assessments (Azevedo et al., 2016b), and females were monitored during the preweaning period (Azevedo et al., 2016a) and until the first artificial insemination (Lage et al., 2017). Average preweaning starter intake by females was similar among treatments (189, 181, 162, and 127 g DM/d for treatments of 13.5 16.1, 18.2, and 20.4% TS, respectively). ...
... During the postweaning period (60 and 90 d of age), starter intake, corn silage intake, water intake, weight gain, and feed efficiency were similar among all groups. Final body weight and growth measurements were greater for animals fed greater TS concentrations in the liquid diets (Azevedo et al., 2016a). ...
Restricting milk or milk replacer (MR) fed to dairy calves to 10% of body weight at 12.5% total solids (TS) concentration is a common feeding strategy that promotes early weaning and lowers total feed costs for raising young calves. However, this strategy has been associated with inferior performance and compromised welfare. Because a restricted liquid nutrition plan limits calf growth due to limited supply of nutrients, research on increased supply of nutrients from liquid has shown improved growth, health, and welfare of calves. Nutrient supply may be increased by feeding larger amounts of milk or MR averaging 12.5% TS, or by increasing TS above the usual 12.5% TS by increasing MR TS concentration alone (TS+), or by increasing TS concentration and volume simultaneously (TSV+). The objective of this review is to discuss liquid nutrition plans with greater TS concentration in MR or in milk diets, considering the effects of such strategies on performance and digestive tract development before weaning and the future performance of dairy calves. This review will focus on liquid nutrition plans that are based on increased TS concentration (i.e., TS+ or TSV+); therefore, enhanced liquid nutrition plans based only on increased volumes will not be the discussed. Improved growth rates have been observed in calves fed TSV+ programs. However, reduced starter intake preweaning can also have negative effects on dry matter intake, average daily gain, and digestibility postweaning. Feeding a TS+ program may reduce impairment of starter intake and therefore have positive effects on performance, nutrient digestibility, and health. When considering an accelerated nutrition plan with TS+ or TSV+, it is important to consider osmolality of the liquid diet. Further studies are necessary to confirm this hypothesis and the cost-benefit of alternative liquid nutrition plans, as well as the optimal TS concentration of milk or MR fed to dairy calves.
... For MI determination, 2000 basal layer cells were counted using a light microscope. Estimation considered the ratio between the number of cells in the mitotic division and the total counted cell number 28 . The height (μm) and area (μm 2 ) of villi in the duodenum and ileum regions; the depth (μm) of gastric fossets and crypts in the duodenum, ileum, and colon regions were measured. ...
Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate blood cells and metabolites, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), digestibility, internal organs weight and histology, gene expression, and spleen cell proliferation of pre-weaned bull calves supplemented with a blend of essential oils in milk replacer (MR). Sixteen newborn Holstein × Gyr crossbred dairy bull calves, with body weight at birth of 33.3 ± 3.7 kg, were housed in individual sand bedded pens, blocked by genetic composition, and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments in a randomized complete block design: Control (CON, n = 8) and blend of essential oils supplementation (BEO, n = 8, 1 g/day/calf, Apex Calf, Adisseo, China). The commercial blend was composed by plant extracts derived from anise, cinnamon, garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Animals were fed 5 L of MR/day reconstituted at 15% (dry matter basis), divided into two equal meals. Water and starter were provided ad libitum. ß-hydroxybutyrate, urea, and glucose were evaluated weekly, IGF-1 was evaluated biweekly, and total blood cell count was performed every four weeks until the end of the trial at eight weeks of age. Feed samples were collected three times a week and polled for weekly analysis. Apparent total nutrient digestibility was determined from d 56 to 60 of age. On d 60 ± 1, animals were euthanized for organ weight, histology, spleen cell proliferation, and intestinal gene expression analysis. Data were analyzed independently using linear mixed models using the REML method in the nlme package in R for continuous outcomes. A non-parametric test was used for ordered categorical outcomes using the Artools package in R. There were no differences between groups for blood evaluations, digestibility, gene expression, and a spleen cell proliferation assay. However, BEO calves presented a heavier pancreas, heavier intestines, bigger ileum villi, and higher cecum butyrate levels (P
... Feeding of milk replacer also resulted in significantly lower final body weight, body weight gain and average daily body weight gain in HF crossbred and Sahiwal calves (Bhatti et al., 2011(Bhatti et al., , 2012. In contrast, a linear increase in average daily gain, final body weight and growth performance in Holstein-Gyr crossbred heifers has been documented with increasing concentrations of total solid in the liquid feed-whole milk from 12.5% to 20.0% (Azevedo et al., 2016). ...
As compared to whole milk feeding, milk replacer is an excellent cheaper source of nutrition for calves prior to weaning. For this study, 20 newborn HF crossbred calves were divided into two equal groups each of 10 animals and were put under 8 weeks feeding trial. The calves of control group (T1) were fed cow’s whole milk as per owner’s practice in the field, while those of treatment group (T2) were fed whole milk @ 2.5 ltr during 1st week and then milk replacer (Amul brand) was fed @ 50 gm and 150 gm along with 2.0 ltr and 1.0 ltr whole milk during 2nd and 3rd week, respectively, and then only the milk replacer @ 250, 350, 450, 500 and 400 gm was used during 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th week, respectively. Weekly body weight was calculated based on measurements of heart girth and body length using Shaffer’s formula. The average body weight during 1st week of age was statistically similar in both groups. The overall mean values of gain in body weight and daily gain in weight in control and treatment groups were 20.40±0.51 vs. 24.67±0.41 kg, and 364.29±9.04 vs. 440.54±7.32 g (20.09% and 20.92% increase in T2 over T1), respectively. The weekly growth rate and overall daily gain in body weight in calves of T2 group were significantly (p<0.001) higher than in T1 group. There was 21.08 % reduction (p<0.001) in cost of feeding with milk replacer over whole milk (Rs. 3454.5 vs 4377.2) for first 8 weeks of life. In general, the crossbred calves can be raised economically on commercial milk replacer without adverse effect on their health and growth rate.
... An alternative to increase nutrient intake by pre-weaning calves is to increase the total solid content in the milk or MR with restricted milk feeding. This approach has increased calves' weight gain, BW, and feed efficiency (Glosson et al. 2015;Azevedo et al. 2016). ...
... In this study, total pre-weaning feed intake was higher in calves receiving the15% TS milk than calves fed conventional milk. These results are consistent with previously published experiments where a marked increase in DMI has been observed in dairy calves offered whole milk or MR with > 14% solids (Azevedo et al. 2016;Hu et al. (2019). Starter intake differed between treatments, indicating that 15% intake of TS in liquid feed reduced the ingestion of concentrate feed. ...
... Starter intake differed between treatments, indicating that 15% intake of TS in liquid feed reduced the ingestion of concentrate feed. These results agree with other researchers who have reported that increasing TS in fluid feed reduced starter intake (Glosson et al. 2015;Azevedo et al. 2016). The inverse relationship between milk with greater solids and concentrate consumption is explained by the restriction imposed on the concentrate intake of calves fed enriched milk with high TS, limiting their potential capacity to ingest concentrate. ...
The objective of this study was to evaluate growth performance, and mammary gland parenchyma (PAR) development in Holstein female calves fed whole milk combined with milk replacer for 15% total solids (15TS) or only milk (11% TS; 11TS). The effects of zilpaterol hydrochloride (ZH) and an estrogenic implant (EI) on growth performance, serum metabolites, and PAR development in post-weaning calves (63–90 days of age) fed 15TS or 11TS were also investigated. In the first phase, 78 calves were randomly divided into two groups (n = 39/group), 15TS, or 11TS (5 to 8 L/day; starter ad libitum). After weaning, calves were randomly assigned to four treatments, no EI, EI, ZH, and ZH-EI. In phase 1, 15TS calves had greater (P < 0.01) average body weight at weaning than 11TS calves (82.0 ± 5.8 vs. 74.1 ± 5.7 kg). Pre-weaning average daily gain (718 ± 67 vs. 576 ± 64 g/day) was higher (P < 0.01) for 15TS calves than 11TS calves. Feed/gain (1.5 ± 0.3 vs. 1.8 ± 0.3 kg of DMI/kg of gain) was lower (P < 0.01) for 15TS calves than 11TS calves. PAR area (8.8 ± 3.3 vs. 5.0 ± 1.6 cm2) was greater (P < 0.01) for 15TS calves than 11TS calves. No differences (P > 0.10) in average daily gain (986 ± 79 g/day across treatments) were observed in calves receiving ZH, EI, or ZH-EI fed 15TS or 11TS diets previously. However, the PAR area of 15TS calves administered ZH-EI was 2.2 times greater (P < 0.01) than 11TS calves with no ZH and CI. This study demonstrated the benefits of supplying milk with 15% TS for enhancing overall animal growth and PAR development. Further use of ZH and EI during the post-weaning period did improve mammary PAR growth.
... Although increasing PM intake frequently decreases starter diet intake [14,21,22] and apparent nutrient digestibility [23,24], Azevedo et al. [25] reported that feeding calves with increasing concentrations of total solids (TS) in milk up to 20.4% increased weight gain and skeletal development without compromising starter diet intake during pre-and post-weaning periods. An increase in the amount of solids in the MR during hot weather conditions could guarantee ingestion of the desired amount of nutrients, thus increasing nutritional status, particularly in the first week of life when calves have limited thermoregulatory ability and disease incidence is higher [22]. ...
... These results are likely to be related to the considerably higher digestibility of milk in comparison to starter feed and was in line with previous reports [17,[41][42][43][44]. Another notable result during this period was that calves fed 17%-HPM and 12%-HPM received higher TME intake than calves fed 17%-LPM and 12%-LPM, which indicates that feed efficiency was more closely related to PM than TS of milk [43]. These results are inconsistent with the results of Azevedo et al. [25] who reported that higher amounts of TS in milk due to replacement of nutrients from a dairy source with a nondairy source decreases feed efficiency. ...
... Our results showed that PMR intake was lower in calves fed milk with 17% TS concentration than those fed milk with 12% TS concentration during d 14-83 of age. In agreement with our results, Glosson et al. [43] reported that addition of milk balancer to whole milk decreased starter intake; however, others showed that increasing milk TS concentration with MR up to 18.2% did not affect starter intake during the pre-weaning period [25,48]. Moreover, our results demonstrated that calves fed LPM-17% TS had greater PMR intake than calves fed HPM-12% TS (699.1 vs. 505.6 ...
Background
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in using high quantities of milk or milk replacer (MR) in heat-stressed calves to alleviate the negative effects of high environmental temperatures on their performance. However, observations have indicated a decline in growth performance in the weaning and post-weaning period, which might be optimized with increasing total solids (TS) in milk and weaning age. This study aims to optimize the effects of higher quantities of milk on late weaned calves' performance by increasing TS concentration or delivery route in summer conditions.
Method
Forty-eight newborn Holstein calves were used in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with the factors of pre-weaning total plane of milk (PM) intake (low vs. high) and milk TS content (12% vs. 17%). The treatments were (1) low PM (LPM) intake with 12% TS (TS intake = 45.9 kg), (2) LPM intake with 17% TS (TS intake = 65.1 kg), (3) high PM (HPM) intake with 12% TS (TS intake = 63.7 kg); and (4) HPM intake with 17% TS (TS intake = 90.3 kg). Calves were weaned at d 83, and the study was terminated at d 103 of age. Performance data (every 10 day), skeletal growth (d 80 and 100), ruminal fermentation parameters (d 48 and 91), and behavioral measurements (d 69, 70, 93 and 94) were analyzed as repeated measurements with PROC MIXED of SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC).
Results
Calves receiving HPM consumed less PMR from d 44 to 83 of age, but they had higher ADG from d 24 to 53 of age compared to those fed LPM (PM × age, P < 0.001). In addition, calves receiving milk with 17% TS had lower PMR intake from d 14 to 83 of age, but greater ADG from d 34 to 53 compared to those receiving milk with 12% TS (TS × age, P < 0.001). Calves that received HPM had greater skeletal growth parameters compared to LPM-fed calves, with a similar effect evident for calves fed milk with 17% TS compared with those fed milk with 12% TS. Calves receiving milk with 17% TS had greater fecal scores and diarrhea occurrence than those fed milk with 12% TS in HPM, but not LPM.
Conclusions
Increasing PM and milk TS concentration improved growth in summer-exposed calves as demonstrated by increased pre-weaning ADG, pre- and post-weaning BW, and structural growth.
... Although there is a global trend in the feeding strategy based on the elevated nutrient intake through milk or milk replacer, inconsistent information exists about how the pre-ruminant calves will perform when they consume high-energy (through milk replacer addition) or high-protein (through skim milk addition) liquid diet. For example, Azevedo et al. (2016) described the performance of dairy heifers receiving increased nutrient intake (total solids = 204 g/kg) and identified significant increases in their pre-and postweaning growth and body frame development. However, slight differences were noted in their solid feed consumption and days with diarrhea. ...
... Contrary to our observations that treatments had small effect on calf body dimensions, Rincker et al. (2011) identified that heifer calves consuming more energy and protein from the intensified liquid diet in pre-weaning phase had larger withers height and hip width at weaning than those fed a conventional diet. Azevedo et al. (2016) also reported that the increase in total solids of whole milk contributed to the increased development of skeletal and tissue structure, linking to a greater consumption of energy and protein in high-solids milk. Glosson et al. (2015) observed negligible differences in calf body development when milk solid content was increased to 176 g/kg, which is consistent with our findings. ...
... Contrarily, Jasper and Weary (2002) reported that milk intake allowance (ad libitum versus restricted) had minor effect on calf fecal score. Azevedo et al. (2016) supplemented whole milk with milk replacer powder to increase total solid content from 125 to 200 g/kg, and despite a two-fold increase in milk osmolarity, pre-weaning fecal score and diarrhea duration were comparable across treatments. Liang et al. (2016) identified that despite the looser feces, minor differences existed in fecal DM concentration when calves consumed the low versus high plane of nutrition from the liquid diet. ...
The purpose of this research was to describe the performance of Holstein calves before and after weaning when total solids in their daily milk were increased with skim milk or milk replacer powder. Forty-five female Holstein calves (body weight = 39.5 ± 1.61 kg) were assigned in random to 1 of 3 treatments: 1) whole milk (WM) with total solids of 123 ± 4.1 g/kg, 2) whole milk + skim milk powder (WM + SM) with total solids of 181 ± 6.2 g/kg, and 3) whole milk + milk replacer powder (WM + MR) with total solids of 184 ± 9.7 g/kg. Calves received 6 l/day of milk from days 2–14, 7 l/day from days 15–35, 6 l/day from days 36–42, 5 l/day from days 43–49, and then 2 l/day from days 50 until weaning (d 56). Calves remained in the study until day 90. Calves exhibited no difference in their pre- and post-weaning starter consumption. Although pre-weaning feed conversion efficiency was slightly different among calves, post-weaned calves receiving WM were more efficient in converting feed nutrients to body weight gain. Evolution of body frame development was slightly different among calves. However, WM + SM-fed calves had greater body length at weaning. Pre-weaning weight gain and body weight at weaning were greater when calves consumed high-solids milk based on SM or MR. Feeding WM + SM increased the number of days with diarrhea, which resulted in the highest proportion of calves in this group to receive antibiotics treatment. Amount of electrolytes administered per calf as well as days with antibiotic therapy were generally lesser in WM-fed calves. Slight treatment differences were noted in post-weaning total-tract digestion of DM, CP and OM in calf starter. However, fat digestibility was greatest in calves consuming WM + SM. Overall, our findings indicate that a high-solids milk feeding strategy based on SM or MR improved calf growth rate in the pre-weaning phase while having no effect on starter consumption. However, diarrhea incidence increased when calf nutrient intake was increased through SM.
... Milk replacers (MR) or milk balancers can provide a consistent source of concentrated nutrients and can be used to increase the DM content of liquid feed without increasing its volume. Glosson et al. (2015) and Azevedo et al. (2016) have found that daily weight gain, weight at weaning, and feed efficiency (FE) increased by concentrating the milk. Whereas Azevedo et al. (2016) evaluated MR addition to a constant milk supply of 6 L/d, Glosson et al. (2015) evaluated milk balancer addition under either a constant milk supply of 3.8 L/d or a step-up/ step-down feeding program. ...
... Glosson et al. (2015) and Azevedo et al. (2016) have found that daily weight gain, weight at weaning, and feed efficiency (FE) increased by concentrating the milk. Whereas Azevedo et al. (2016) evaluated MR addition to a constant milk supply of 6 L/d, Glosson et al. (2015) evaluated milk balancer addition under either a constant milk supply of 3.8 L/d or a step-up/ step-down feeding program. Both studies increased milk concentration during the whole liquid feeding period (56 d). ...
... With the addition of MR to milk, the maximum concentration of TS should be considered, with a greater TS value being associated with faster gastric emptying, reduced diet digestibility, and increased diarrhea incidence (Davis and Drackley, 1998). In the just-mentioned experiments (Glosson et al., 2015;Azevedo et al., 2016), TS concentration levels were below 20%. ...
Objective
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of adding milk replacer to milk fed to calves during their first month of life on intake, performance, and health under 2 milk feeding programs.
Materials and Methods
Sixty female Holstein calves were blocked at birth by dam parity and assigned in a randomized block design to 1 of 4 treatments (n = 15/treatment). Calves were fed whole milk under either a conventional (CF) or a step-up/step-down (SF) feeding program for 8 wk. Both feeding programs were tested with (+MR) and without 0.5 kg/d of milk replacer during the first 28 d.
Results and Discussion
The maximum rate of liquid feed supply was ~1.5 kg of DM. No difference in intake was found during the last week of the experiment. Daily gain varied among treatments. Heifers on SF+MR were the heaviest at the end of the experiment, although they were not different from those on CF+MR. There was no difference in final BW between CF+MR and SF. No difference in diarrhea status was observed.
Implications and Applications
Under the conditions of this experiment, calves achieved greater nutrient intake by concentrating the milk feeding during the first month, inducing a greater daily gain during the entire liquid feeding period, neither compromising starter intake at weaning nor affecting diarrhea incidence. Milk replacer supplementation only during the first month of life can be used under both feeding programs, with the conventional being more practical and less time consuming.
