About My Research.
The dairy industry is continuously making strides to improve production and welfare of cattle. My research helps provide information for making these improvements. Over the past decade, there has been an increase adoption of intensified feeding programs for dairy calves. This means calves are offered higher levels of milk, commonly over 20% of their birth body weight. In the past, producers fed around 10% of their birth body weight, thinking that limiting milk would allow for more solid feed consumption. However, this resulted in poor growth and performance. Research has now shown that higher levels of milk are required to optimize growth and welfare of calves, but do present some challenges. Feeding these higher levels of milk has resulted in fewer and smaller meals of solid feed around weaning. This leads to poor and delayed development of the rumen, which can impact growth and digestion. This shines light on an area that needs more research, which is where my research come in.
Calves have a preference for consuming milk over solid feed. This causes calves to have smaller and less frequent solid feed meals while they are weaning off milk. This results in slower development of the digestive system. Calves are born with a simple stomach, like us, however once they are mature, they have a complex, 4-chambered stomach called a rumen. In order to function properly once mature, calves must consume enough starter feed to start fermentation and develop their rumen. Weaning off these large quantities of milk challenges this development. That is where my research comes in!
I am hoping to determine the optimal weaning program to maximize performance and rumen development. I studied sixty holstein heifer calves and investigated two gradual weaning programs. Gradual weaning means the milk is slowly decreased over a set amount of time, compared to abrupt weaning where the milk is removed at a certain day of age. The calves were fed 12.5L a day for 43 days. At 43 days they began their two week weaning period until day 57, when they were completely off milk. The calves were on one of two weaning programs.
These two programs are either a continuous gradual weaning program, where the milk is decreased in small equal increments, or a multi-step gradual weaning program where milk is decreased in larger, more noticeable drops.
Data Collection:
-Rumen development (Blood measurements)
-Growth (body weights and measurements)
-Feed intakes (daily milk, feed and water intakes)
-Standing and lying time (data loggers)
-Live behavioural observations
Calves have a preference for consuming milk over solid feed. This causes calves to have smaller and less frequent solid feed meals while they are weaning off milk. This results in slower development of the digestive system. Calves are born with a simple stomach, like us, however once they are mature, they have a complex, 4-chambered stomach called a rumen. In order to function properly once mature, calves must consume enough starter feed to start fermentation and develop their rumen. Weaning off these large quantities of milk challenges this development. That is where my research comes in!
I am hoping to determine the optimal weaning program to maximize performance and rumen development. I studied sixty holstein heifer calves and investigated two gradual weaning programs. Gradual weaning means the milk is slowly decreased over a set amount of time, compared to abrupt weaning where the milk is removed at a certain day of age. The calves were fed 12.5L a day for 43 days. At 43 days they began their two week weaning period until day 57, when they were completely off milk. The calves were on one of two weaning programs.
These two programs are either a continuous gradual weaning program, where the milk is decreased in small equal increments, or a multi-step gradual weaning program where milk is decreased in larger, more noticeable drops.
Data Collection:
-Rumen development (Blood measurements)
-Growth (body weights and measurements)
-Feed intakes (daily milk, feed and water intakes)
-Standing and lying time (data loggers)
-Live behavioural observations
My Research Findings.
Stay tuned for my research findings and links to presentations of my results.