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The Value of Supplementary Vitamin Feeding in the Rearing of Dairy Calves

Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, Urbana, Illinois

ABSTRACT

Individual records were kept of 299 calves of the Station dairy herd. These were divided at random into four groups to determine the value of vitamin supplementation of the ration during the first 30 days, the critical period in the life of the calf.

The vitamin supplements were of two kinds. One consisted of vitamin capsules containing vitamins A and D, together with ascorbic acid and nicotinic acid. Ascorbic acid was omitted after 10 days of age. The other was a special feeding oil containing vitamins A and D.

The criteria used in evaluating the results were gains in liveweight to 15 days and to 30 days of age, number of cases of scours, age at which scours occurred, duration of scours, number of deaths, and cause of death in those which failed to survive the 30-day period of observation.

The use of vitamin capsules containing ascorbic acid and nicotinic acid in addition to vitamins A and D was not found superior to supplementation with only vitamins A and D, and vitamin supplementation on the whole was of doubtful value, as shown by the bases of measurement used.