Contentious issues in calf rearing include milk feeding level and single versus group housing. The current study was performed on a high-producing 170 Holstein cow dairy farm to investigate the impact of nutrition and housing on disease incidence. Calves (n=100) were allocated in birth order to one of two commonly used feeding strategies. Group A calves were group housed from birth and fed ad l...

BACKGROUND The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to determine the effect of feeding a commercial lacteal-derived colostrum replacer (CR) or pooled maternal colostrum (MC) on preweaning morbidity, growth and mortality in Holstein heifer calves. A total of 568 calves were randomly assigned to be fed either 3.8 L of pooled MC or two doses (200 g IgG) of a CR. Calves were monitored ...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the proportion of twins carried to term and the sex ratio of twin calves at birth in Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle kept on commercial farms in Devon and Cornwall, England. Ten farms were used in the study. Fifty four cows with twin pregnancies were identified using trans-rectal ultra-sonographic examination between 30 and 70 days of gestation. The f...

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between acid-base status and plasma branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) concentration in calves with diarrhoea for intravenous nutrition, especially with amino acid solution in calves with diarrhoea. Thirty-four Holstein calves aged 11.0±5.9 days old were enrolled in this study. In 10 of 34 calves exhibiting clinical signs of diarrhoea, s...

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of Cu deficiency with or without high dietary Mo or Fe on the specific immunity of calves. In Exp. 1, calves from 38 bred heifers, fed corn silage-based experimental diets from the last third of gestation until the calves were weaned, were used. Dietary treatments were control (no supplemental Fe, Mo, or Cu), 600 mg of supplemental Fe/kg o...

Effects of weaning age on plasma VFA were examined using 16 Holstein heifer calves. Animals entered the study at 6 +/- 3.5 d of age and were fed 1.8 kg milk twice daily to 28 (early weaning) or 56 d (late weaning) and a commercial pelleted calf starter from 0 (early) or 28 (late) d. Blood was sampled once weekly for 14 wk. Total blood concentrations of VFA, acetate, propionate, and butyrate wer...

The oesophageal groove reflex was examined in 6 milk-fed Holstein Friesian calves once weekly during the first 17 weeks of life. Additionally, the effect of different feeding methods (bucket, different nipple positions and openings), different milk temperatures (20, 30, 39, 45°C) and milk replacer concentrations (100, 125, 150 grams/litre of water) on oesophageal groove closure was investigated...

To investigate the congenital complex vertebral malformation syndrome (CVM) in Holstein calves, two breeding studies were performed including 262 and 363 cows, respectively. Cows were selected from the Danish Cattle Database based on pedigree and insemination records. Selected cows were progeny of sires with an established heterozygous CVM genotype and pregnant after insemination with semen fro...