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The Oscillatory Character of the Variations in the Weights of Dairy Heifers

University of California, Davis

ABSTRACT

Data are presented showing that the daily weights of growing dairy heifers receiving a non-roughage diet consist of a general trend plus an oscillatory function of time which tends to become less pronounced as the heifers increase in age and size. The behavior of the weights of these heifers when older was very similar to the behavior of the weights of yearling beef heifers fed on a normal alfalfa hay diet which indicates that the different behaviors at different ages observed for these heifers was a matter of age and not of diet. At any age there was always a tendency for a deviation from trend in a daily weight to depend on the deviations for the adjacent days. This fact must be considered in calculating the accuracy of the results of feeding trials. If weights that are used as the basis of conclusions in feeding trials happen to fall at the right parts of the natural oscillations, then very misleading results may be obtained.

From the data presented it appears that for short time trials several animals should be included if possible, the environmental conditions be kept uniform, and frequent weighings throughout the trial should be made. For long-time trials, regular comparable weighings as often as possible should be made throughout the entire course of the trial.