Starter rations for dairy calves

Twenty-four calves were assigned at birth to four groups for the purpose of determining their response to different starter rations.Each group contained six calves and was composed of two Jersey heifers, two Holstein heifers and two Holstein steers.All calves were left with their dams for three days and then placed on whole milk until seven weeks of age.Starter rations were offered the calves as soon as they would eat them.At the end of seven weeks, the calves in Groups I, II and III were taken off of milk and fed only their respective starter ration and alfalfa hay ad libitum.The calves in Group IV were continued on whole milk, the control grain ration and alfalfa hay for the entire 16 week period.Each grain ration contained approximately 16% crude protein.The rations differed primarily in the source of the protein.The starter ration for the calves in Group I contained blood meal as a supplemental protein source, while the starter ration for the calves in Group II contained meat meal and the starter ration for the calves in Group III and IV contained linseed meal.Each calf received forty-five milligrams of Aureomycin (Aurofac 2A) per day and the calves in Group I, II and II were supplemented with 400 international units of vitamin D per day after milk feeding was discontinued.The rations were evaluated on the response they produced in body weight and skeletal growth.At the end of the 16 week experimental period, calves were compared to Ragsdale's standards on body weight, height of withers and chest measurement by averaging the final measurements of the two Jersey heifers in each, ration group, the two Holstein heifers in each ration group and the two Holstein steers in each ration group.iii Table Number"■ I. II.