Feeding of Cold Whole Milk Once Daily to Calves in a Group and Its Effect on Calf Performance, Health, and Labour Input

Female calves (n = 54) were assigned to 1 of 3 whole milk feeding treatments at an average age of 7 days and remained on treatment for 70 days. The treatments were twice-aday feeding with weaning at 56 days of age (TAD56); once-a-day feeding with weaning at 56 days of age (OAD56); and once-aday feeding with weaning at 42 days of age (OAD42). Calves were housed in groups of 9 and were fed 5 litres of cold whole milk daily using teat feeders and offered ad libitum calf starter concentrate. The calf performance, health, and feed intakes were recorded and labour input per treatment was measured. The overall weight gain was 48.3, 47.3, and 47.1 kg/calf with TAD56, OAD56, and OAD42, respectively, over 70 days. The total concentrate intake and the corresponding total milk dry matter intake for 70 days were 82.3, 80.4, and 91.0 kg/calf and 32.4, 32.4, and 24 kg/calf for TAD56, OAD56, and OAD42, respectively. The labour input per calf per day was higher for TAD56 (88 sec) compared to OAD56 (66 sec) or OAD42 (53 sec) feeding systems. More group outbreaks of diarrhea were observed with once-a-day feeding and these outbreaks coincided with periods of cold weather. This study demonstrated that calves fed on a group basis once daily and weaned at 42 days may be reared successfully in terms of performance health and labour input.