A COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT PROCEDURES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF VEAL CALVES

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Abstract
Thirty-two male Holstein calves were fed from 3 days of age to market weight on four experimental diets: whole milk, a regular commercial milk replacer, and two experimental replacers made by incorporating 10 and 15 per cent added fat. Half of the calves on each treatment were marketed on reaching a liveweight of 225 pounds and the rest were marketed at 275 pounds.The whole milk treatment resulted in higher daily gains, dressing percentage, fat per cent in the carcass, and returns over feed costs, when milk was valued at less than $3.00 per hundred. The experimental replacer with 10 per cent fat (9 parts tallow, 1 part soybean lecithin) did not improve performance over the commercial milk replacer, except for the amount of fat in the carcass. This was due, at least in part, to a health problem encountered on two occasions with the calves on the 10 per cent fat replacer. The addition of 15 per cent fat improved performance, as compared to the commercial milk replacer, and no health problems were encountered. Growth rate on the 15 per cent fat treatment, dressing percentage and returns over feed costs were higher than for the 10 per cent fat treatment. In addition, both of the experimental replacers gave higher fat in the carcass than the regular milk replacer. Calves marketed at 275 pounds as compared to 225 pounds had a higher average daily gain and yielded more fat in the carcass.

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