Performance of Dairy Calves Weaned at 24 Days of Age and Fed Vegetable vs. Animal Source Protein in the Dry Starter

Abstract

In an experiment utilizing 39, three-day-old Holstein and Jersey calves, results indicate that calves can be weaned successfully from milk at 24 days of age. All calves were coaxed to eat starter prior to weaning, and all made acceptable growth rates. The addition of dried skimmilk provided little additional benefit over a vegetable source of protein in the starter of early weaned calves. There was no statistical difference between the starters for calf growth rate, feed consumption, or efficiency values. Calves on Starter I, which contained dried skimmilk, had significantly higher coefficients of apparent digestibility of dry matter, but no significant difference was encountered for crude protein digestibility or TDN values between the starters. © 1962, American Dairy Science Association. All rights reserved.