Performance of Tharparkar calves following a suckling or non-suckling rearing system

Aim: The aim was to find out the influence of suckling and non-suckling system of rearing on growth performance of indigenous Tharparkar calves. Materials and Methods: A total of 14 Tharparkar calves was randomly divided into two groups. The Group 1 (G-1) was suckling group, in which calves were allowed to suckle from the same dam twice a day before/after milking from birth to 90 days of age, while in Group 2 (G 2), calves were weaned (non-suckling) immediately after birth (1st day weaning). The non-suckling calves were fed with colostrum within few hours after birth and twice daily for 3 days at the rate of 10% of live body weight (LBW) and later, kept under pail feeding till 71 days of age along with calf starter and green fodder as per the Indian Veterinary Research Institute protocol. The experimental trial was continued for 90 days of age of calf from its birth. Observations regarding various growth performances were made following standard procedures and the data obtained were statistically analyzed by SPSS program version 17. Results: The effect of rearing system was found to be significantly (p≤0.05) higher for G 1 calves on 15 days LBW whereas it was highly significant (p≤0.01) on LBW’s at subsequent readings as compared to G 2 calves. For average daily gain (ADG) (g/day), G 1 calves showed highly significant (p≤0.01) value than G 2 calves during 0-30 days (447.62±58.13 in G 1 vs. 176.19±15.79 in G 2) and 31-60 days (614.29±77.27 in G 1 vs. 233.33±37.80 in G 2) and remained statistically significant (p≤0.05) between 61 and 90 days. On different body measurements, effect of system of rearing was non-significant up to 15 days. From 30 days onwards, higher significant values for G 1 calves were observed for heart girth and body length whereas for body height significant results were obtained from 45 days onward. This superiority in all growth parameters expressed by suckling system calves might be due to longer duration of milk feeding and more intake of milk as compared to that of non-sucking group. Conclusion: Therefore present study was concluded that the calves reared under suckling system attained higher LBW, ADG in body weight and body measurements than the non-suckling group of Tharparkar calves.