Influence of Frequent Feeding of Grain on Weight Gain in Dairy Heifers

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Abstract
A series of feeding trials using nine heifers per trial assigned at random to one of three groups was carried out with Holstein and Jersey heifers. Each Holstein was fed 6 pounds and each Jersey heifer was fed 4 1/2 pounds of a 16% protein grain mix in either two, four, or eight protions during the day. The heifers weighed between 300 and 500 pounds at the beginning of the trial. Each heifer was fastened by neck chain in individual stalls daily. They were turned into an exercise lot where water, salt, and hay were available free-choice each night. An automatically timed feeding device was used to feed the concentrate. There was no significant difference in body weight gains due to treatment in these trials. The total weight gain for the Holstein heifers differed by only 3 pounds between the 2X and 4X group and 16 pounds between the 2X and 8X group. The weight gain for the Jersey heifers showed a difference of 6 pounds in favor of the 2X group when compared to the 8X group. The body weight gain for the Holstein groups appeared to decline as the trial progressed. However, this trend did not show among the Jersey heifers. The decline for the Holstein heifers was possibly due to limiting the amount of grain at the beginning of the trial which would provide less nutrients for growth as the maintenance requirements increased with increase in size.