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The Effect of Age of the Calf on the Availability of Nutrients in Vegetable Milk-Replacer Rations¹

Departments of Dairy and Agricultural Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing

ABSTRACT

The study was designed to determine the influence of age on the ability of the calf to digest vegetable milk-replacer rations by determining the amounts of nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus that were retained at four ages (10, 18, 26, and 34 days). Whole milk and evaporated milk were fed as standards of comparison. Male Holstein calves 2 to 4 days of age were assigned to the experiment at random. The milk replacers were not satisfactorily utilized until the calves were approximately 25 days of age. Editor.

There is a scarcity of data relevant to the digestion of vegetable milk replacers by the young calf, particularly with respect to the effect of age. A previous investigation in the use of vegetable milk replacers in calf nutrition indicated that weight gains and feed consumption were unsatisfactory until the calves were approximately 25 days of age (15). Earlier studies by Shaw et al. (18) demonstrated that 4- to 7-day-old calves were able to digest only one-fifth of the starch consumed, but by 3 to 4 weeks of age the calves were able to digest over 90% of the starch.

¹ Published with the approval of the Director of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station as Journal Article No. 1864.

² This article is part of a dissertation presented to the faculty of the School for Advanced Graduate Studies of Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

³ Present address: Dairy Department, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana.

⁴ Present address: Department of Dairy Husbandry, Kansas State College, Manhattan.