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Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances

Effects of Milk Feeding Frequency on Growth of Holstein Calves
Feyzi Ugur , Ali Karabayir , Habibe Bagci and Iskender Cagras

Abstract: The study was undertaken to compare the performance of Holstein calves fed with milk once and twice a day in terms of weight and body measurements. Calves stayed with their mothers for 3 days after parturition. The calves were then transferred to individual pens and fed. The animals were allocated to 2 groups. The calves in the first group were fed with 7% milk of their birth weight until weaning. Milk was given once a day at 08:00 in the morning. The calves in the second group were also fed with 7% milk of their birth weight but received the milk in 2 meals, at 08:00 and 18:00 until weaning. The animals in both the groups were weaned at 60 days of age. The effect of application of 2 different feeding frequencies with milk on the growth characteristics of the calves was found insignificant. The average weigth of 4 month old calves and the mean daily weight gains at the period between the birth and 4 months of age for the first group were 80.8�1.8 and 0.34�0.01 kg and for the second group were 84.7�1.8 and 0.37�0.01 kg, respectively (p>0.05). Body measurements, such as heart girth, body lenght, height at withers, chest depth and front shank circumference were not significantly influenced by the groups.

How to cite this article
Feyzi Ugur , Ali Karabayir , Habibe Bagci and Iskender Cagras , 2008. Effects of Milk Feeding Frequency on Growth of Holstein Calves. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 7: 1066-1068.

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