Cow milk or milk replacer in the diet of Holstein calves: effects on complete blood count, biochemistry variables, and performance

Casagrande, Ana Claudia; Machado, Giovana Carolina P.; Brunetto, Andrei Lucas Rebelatto; Vedovatto, Marcelo; Galli, Gabriela Miotto; Silva, Aleksandro Schafer Da

doi:10.1590/S1519-994020220019

Brasil

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Animal Nutrition • Rev. bras. saúde prod. anim. 24 • 2023 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S1519-994020220019 linkcopy

Cow milk or milk replacer in the diet of Holstein calves: effects on complete blood count, biochemistry variables, and performance

Leite de vacaousucedâneo do leitenadieta de bezerrosholandeses: efeitos no hemogramacompleto, variáveis bioquímicas e desempenho

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to evaluate whether feeding calves with replacers instead of cow's milk interferes with complete blood count, biochemistry variables, survival, and weight gain, and the cost-benefit of these feeds in the suckling phase. We used 16 calves of the Holstein breed with an average of 8±4 days and 39±6 kg of average body weight, randomly divided into two groups: Replacer Group (N=8), receiving four liters of replacer milk during the 60 experimental days; and the Milk Group (N=8), calves receiving four liters of cow's milk. We observed that animals fed with cow's milk had higher body weight and weight gain at all weightings compared to those who consumed the dairy replacer. There was no calve death during the study. The cost (R$) of the diet of the calves that consumed replacer was lower. However, if we consider the weight gain during the experiment, the cost to produce 1 kg of body weight was similar between the treatments, because the calves that consumed milk were weaned with an average of 19kg more body weight. In conclusion, the use of dairy replacers as a replacer for cow's milk caused calves to have an overall lower performance compared to those who received cow's milk during the suckling phase.

Keywords: calves; cow's milk; milk replacer; performance; biochemistry

Feed	Days 1 to 35	Days 36 to 60
Milk replacer¹	400 (g/animal/d)	600 (g/animal/d)
Cow milk²	4.0 (L/animal/d)	4.0 (L/animal/d)
Concentrate²	Ad libitum	Ad libitum

Feed	Chemical composition (%)
Milk replacer
Dry matter	95.0
Crude protein	22.7
Ether extract	12.9
Lactose	21.3
Free glucose	15.2
Free galactose	0.34
Ash	5.98
Cow milk
Fat	6.01
Lactose	4.67
Protein	3.82
Total solid	14.5
Concentrate
Dry matter	92.0
Crude protein	22.7
Ether extract	2.82
NDF	18.1
ADF	9.54
Ash	4.70

Items	Treatments¹		SEM	P – values
Items	Cow milk	Milk Replacer	SEM	Treat^&	Day^#	Treat × Day*
Body weight (kg)				<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
d 1	42.9^J	41.1^J	1.77
d 7	44.6^I*	40.9^I*	1.77
d 14	47.8^H*	41.7^G*	1.77
d 21	49.5^G*	41.5^H*	1.77
d 28	55.6^F*	44.8^F*	1.77
d 35	59.6^E*	46.0^E*	1.77
d 42	65.3^D*	51.7^D*	1.77
d 49	69.1^C*	53.7^C*	1.77
d 56	77.4^B*	58.9^B*	1.77
d 60	82.2^A*	63.2^A*	1.77
Average²	61.4^a	49.1^b	1.54
Body weight gain (kg)
d 1 to 14	4.90	0.67	1.03	<0.01	-	-
vd 1 to 35	16.7	4.97	1.64	<0.01	-	-
d 1 to 60	39.3	22.1	2.93	<0.01	-	-
d 35 to 60	22.6	17.1	1.75	0.04
Average daily gain (kg/day)
d 1 to 60	0.66	0.37	0.05	<0.01	-	-
Feed intake³
d 1 to 60	57.7	49.7	2.09	0.02	-	-
Feed efficiency (kg/kg)					-	-
d 1 to 60	0.68	0.43	0.38	<0.01	-	-

Items	Treatments¹		SEM	P – values
Items	Cow milk	Milk Replacer	SEM	Treat^&	Day^#	Treat × Day*
Erythrocytes (x10⁶ µL)				0.44	<0.01	0.05
d 1	8.47^A	9.18^A	0.46
d 30	6.56^B	6.61^B	0.46
d 60	7.69^AB*	6.24^B*	0.46
Average²	6.95	6.56	0.34
Hematocrit (%)				0.70	0.12	0.11
d 1	40.10	38.1	3.92
d 30	29.4	36.9	3.92
d 60	35.6	25.5	4.18
Average²	32.9	31.1	3.17
Hemoglobin (g/dL)				0.37	<0.01	0.13
d 1	8.53^A	8.69^A	0.35
d 30	6.87^B	6.59^B	0.35
d 60	6.96^B	6.10^B	0.38
Average²	6.86	6.39	0.36
Leukocytes (x10³ µL)				0.76	<0.01	0.65
d 1	12.4^A	11.7^A	0.91
d 30	5.20^B	5.98^B	0.91
d 60	4.79^B	5.39^B	0.91
Average²	5.19	5.52	0.56
Neutrophils (x10³ µL)				0.90	<0.01	0.98
d 1	2.50^A	2.59^A	0.30
d 30	1.12^B	1.10^B	0.30
d 60	0.96^B	0.99^B	0.30
Average²	1.02	1.06	0.20
Lymphocytes (x10³ µL)				0.77	<0.01	0.51
d 1	9.09^A	8.32^A	0.66
d 30	3.77^B	4.59^B	0.66
d 60	3.68^B	3.99^B	0.66
Average²	3.93	4.11	0.45
Monocytes (x10³ µL)				0.10	<0.01	0.10
d 1	0.73^A	0.62^A	0.09
d 30	0.25^B	0.25^B	0.09
d 60	0.12^B*	0.36^B*	0.09
Average²	0.21	0.28	0.03
Eosinophils (x10³ µL)				0.87	0.23	0.71
d 1	0.09	0.13	0.03
d 30	0.06	0.03	0.03
d 60	0.05	0.05	0.03
Average²	0.05	0.05	0.02

Items	Treatments¹		SEM	P – values
Items	Milk	Milk Replacer	SEM	Treat^&	Day^#	Treat × Day*
Albumin (g/dL)				0.02	<0.01	0.19
d 1	2.44^B	2.41^B	0.16
d 30	4.04^A	3.37^A	0.16
d 60	2.28^B	2.11^B	0.16
Average²	3.16	2.73	0.11
Globulin (g/dL)				0.88	<0.01	0.60
d 1	4.06^B	4.14^B	0.45
d 30	1.94^C	2.50^C	0.45
d 60	5.90^A	5.55^A	0.48
Average²	3.91	3.99	0.38
Total protein (g/dL)				0.54	<0.01	0.83
d 1	6.49^B	6.55^B	0.43
d 30	5.96^B	5.87^B	0.43
d 60	8.16^A	7.69^A	0.47
Average²	7.06	6.74	0.37
Glucose (mg/dL)				0.25	<0.01	0.41
d 1	95.3^A	96.9^A	9.05
d 30	65.7^B	63.4^B	9.05
d 60	81.9^AB	60.1^B	9.67
Average²	73.4	62.5	6.47
Triglycerides (mg/dL)				0.16	<0.01	0.61
d 1	47.6^A	41.3^A	3.81
d 30	22.4^B	22.6^B	3.81
d 60	26.4^B	23.0^B	4.03
Average²	24.4	22.8	2.95
Cholesterol (mg/dL)				0.06	0.05	0.20
d 1	67.3^B	67.3	9.36
d 30	89.9^AB	62.1	9.36
d 60	96.4^A	74.6	9.87
Average²	93.2	69.0	8.31
Urea (mg/dL)				0.96	0.03	0.42
d 1	21.9^B	25.5	2.51
d 30	28.7^AB	28.2	2.51
d 60	31.8^A	28.8	2.62
Average²	30.3	28.5	2.66

Costs	Treatments¹		SEM	P – values
Costs	Milk	Milk Replacer	SEM	P – values
Concentrate (R$/animal)	71.6	66.5	6.55	0.59
Cow milk or milk replacer (R$/animal)	504	234	24.1	<0.01
Milk or milk replacer + concentrate (R$/animal)	575	301	6.55	<0.01
Medications (R$/animal)	9.75	26.1	3.07	<0.01
Feed + medications (R$/animal)	585	327	5.92	<0.01
Costs to gain 1 kg of body weight	15.2	16.7	1.42	0.45

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