Pre- and Post weaning performance and health of dairy calves fed all-milk protein milk replacers or partially replacing milk protein in milk replacers with plasma, wheat proteins and soy protein concentrate

Abstract Text: One-hundred five (2-5 d old) individually fed Holstein heifer calves (39.8 ± 0.73kg) were randomly assigned to 1 of 4  treatments to evaluate pre- (d 1-42) and post weaning (d 43-56) calf performance and health when fed  milk replacers (MR) with alternative protein sources. Calves were assigned to  non-medicated MR with 1) All milk protein (AM), 2) 50% of total protein from wheat and plasma (WPL), 3) 50% of total protein from soybean protein concentrate (SPC) and plasma (SPL), and 4) 50% combination of wheat, SPC and plasma (SWP). All calves were fed a non- medicated 20% fat:20% CP MR at 0.284 kg in 1.99 L water (12.5% solids) 2X daily for the first 35 d and 1X daily d 36 to weaning at 42 d. Day 1 to 14, 1:1 neomycin:oxytetracycline was added to the MR solution to provide 22 mg/kg BW/d. Calf starter (CS; 18% CP) and water were fed free choice from d1. Osmolality of the MR were 469, 421, 395 and 412 mOsm/L for AM, WPL, SPL, and SWP, respectively. There were no pre- (P = 0.11) or post (P = 0.30) weaning ADG differences. Calves averaged 0.74 kg/d gain for the 56-d study. There were no differences in CS (P = 0.22) or total DMI (P = 0.33) intake  which averaged 55.3 and 77.08 kg for the 56-d study, respectively. Pre-weaning gain/feed was higher (P < 0.05) in calves fed WPL vs. those fed SPL and SWP but similar to AM calves. There were no overall 56-d differences in gain/feed (P = 0.19). Across treatments, calves doubled their initial BW and gained > 10.2 cm in frame growth. Fecal scores d 1 to 14 and overall were higher (P < 0.05) for AM fed calves compared to WPL, SPL, and SWP treatments. The number of scouring d pre-weaning were also higher (P < 0.05) for AM calves vs. those fed SPL and SWP with WPL calves being intermediate.  There were no differences in health treatment costs. Under the conditions of this study, replacing 50% of the total milk protein in MR with alternative sources resulted in calf performance and health similar to all milk protein.

Keywords:

Calf performance, milk replacers, alternative proteins.