Montbeliard Clvess: A Case Study

Thirty newborn Montbeliard calves were allotted to 1 of 3 dietary groups according to age and body weight(BW) to determine the effects of different feeding patterns on growth and rumen development. Treatments consisted of pelleted starter(22% crude protein,26% neutral detergent fiber) fed alone(CON) or supplemented with alfafa hay from d 15 (PeA) or texturized starter(23% crude protein, 25% neutral detergent fiber) fed alone(Te). All calves were fed 4 L of colostrum within 1 h of birth and were subsequently fed milk twice daily until weaned on week 8. Rumen samples was taken in week 4,8 and 10 for female calves and in week 4 and 8 for male calves to determine rumen pH and volatile fatty acid concentrations. On d 56, bull calves were havested …show more content…
The study finished after week 10. Individual starter and forage intakes were recorded daily. Body weight (BW), body length (BL), cannon circumference (CC), heart girth (HG), hip width (HW) and wither height (WH) was recorded weekly. Data were analyzed by SAS MIXED procedure. Calves in Te and PeA group tended to have higher dry matter intake(DMI) and total DMI(TDMI) than those in CON during both pre-weaning post-weaning priod. DMI growth in Te calves were faster than the other two group. Calves fed Te tended to have higher ADG than calves fed PeA and CON during pre-weaning period(0.72 vs. 0.68, 0.65 kg/d), while PeA animal had higher ADG than the other two during post-weaning period(1.08 vs. 1.03, 0.88 kg/d). Body length index, body trunk index and body circumference index did not differ during pre-weaning period. However during post-weaning period, body length index in Te calves was higher than PeA and CON calves (95.6 vs. 93, 92.6). Rumen pH did not differ in three treatments. On d 56, the ratio of acetic acid and propionic acid in PeA calves were higher than CON and Te calves(1.28 vs. 1,07, 1.03). Calves fed PeA tended to have higher intestinal amylase