The effects of using milk replacer on body growth and its economic feasibility in feeding dairy calves

Thirty-eight one day old female Holstein Friesian calves were raised on artificial rearing system. We are used in completely randomized design to evaluate the effects of using milk replacer on body growth and its economic feasibility. The results revealed that the pre-weaning weight gain, pre-weaning growth rate, weaning weight, post weaning growth rate and weight at final week (week twenty) of calves fed milk replacer was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of calves fed raw milk. The cost of milk replacer given to calves groups was significantly (P<0.05) less than the cost of raw milk. The pre-weaning weight and post weaning weight benefits of calves fed milk replacer were significantly(P<0.05) higher than those of fed raw milk. The results on pre-weaning weights /cost ratio benefit revealed that the project would be beneficial and feasible for calves given milk replacer and not beneficial and economically feasible for calves given raw milk. Moreover, the results on post weaning weights /cost ratio benefit indicated that the project would be beneficial and economically feasible for all experimental calves.