ABSTRACT An investigation was carried out on 18 numbers of new bor

J Saharia

M Morang

N K Sarma

CiteSeerX

Received : 23.11.2012 Accepted : 06.12.2013
 EFFECT  OF  FEEDING  MILK  REPLACER  ON  GROWTH
PERFORMANCE OF  YAK  CALVES
N.K. Sarma , M. Morang   and  J. Saharia
Department of Livestock Production and Management,
College of Vety. Science, Assam Agril. University,
Khanapara, Guwahati-781022
ABSTRACT
           An investigation was carried out on 18 numbers of new born Yak calves
of both sexes to study the cost of raising the calves under three feeding systems.
The calves were placed under three feeding systems: T
1
 - (natural suckling),
T
2
- (milk replacer) and T
3
- (whole milk with bottle feeding like foster mother).
Each group had 3 male and 3 female calves. A milk replacer was prepared with
the conventional feed ingredients containing 22.42 per cent CP and was offered
as per recommendation of Arora (1979) on dairy calf. The calves under T
1
were allowed to suckle ad lib mothers’ milk two times a day and calves under
T
3
 were offered yak whole milk as per body weight requirement. During three
months of experimental period, no significant body weight gain was observed
in all three groups. Feed conversion efficiency was significantly higher in T
2
group. The cost incurred on feed, fodder, concentrate mixture, milk and milk
replacer were recorded to calculate the cost of raising calves under different
treatments. The total cost of feeding of calves during the experiment period
was Rs.7812.00, 6468.46 and 5884.00 for T
1
, T
2
 and T
3
 respectively. The cost
of raising calves with milk replacer seems to be marginally higher than whole
milk feeding.  It is concluded that the yak calves can be raised under milk
replacer feeding from birth to three months of age without affecting the growth.
Key words: Yak, Milk replacer, Feed conversion efficiency, Foster mother,
Concentrate mixture, Suckling.
 Corresponding author Email : nabasarma10@gmail.com
338Tamil Nadu J. Veterinary & Animal Sciences  9 (5 ) 338 - 343, September - October  2013
Sarma et al.
339 Tamil Nadu J. Veterinary & Animal Sciences  9 (5 ) 338 - 343, September - October  2013
 INTRODUCTION
                 Yak (Bos grunniens) is a multiuse
animal and its utility as pack animal for higher
altitude, milk, meat, hair, hide is well known.
However, calf mortality is one of the most
important contributing factors of reducing the
yak population. It is due to the poor health
condition of the mothers surviving on sparse
nutritional availability and harsh climate for
which mothers are unable to support required
nutrients to the calves or some time death of
the mother yak cow. In this context, it is an
utmost important to formulate a suitable milk
replacer for well being of the yak calves. Milk
replacer is an excellent source of nutrition for
calves that are fed prior to weaning which is
very popular in dairy calves development
programmes  in India and abroad as it ensure
better economic gain. Considering the paucity
of literature about the artificial rearing of yak
calves with milk replacer, the present
investigation was undertaken at National
Research Centre (NRC) on yak, Dirang,
Arunachal Pradesh.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
               Eighteen numbers of new born yak
calves of both sexes were procured from the
farm of NRC on Yak. They were divided in
three groups of 3 males and 3 females calves
in each group  and were placed under three
management system: T
1
- (natural suckling),
T
2
- (milk replacer with bottle feeding) and
T
3
- (whole yak milk with bottle like foster
mother). The calves were allowed to suckle
mother’s milk for a period of 8 days. A milk
replacer was prepared (Table.1) with the
conventional feed ingredients containing 22.42
per cent crude protein and was offered to the
calves under T
2
 as per recommendation of
Arora (1979) for dairy calf. The calves under
T
1
 were allowed to suckle ad lib mother’s milk
(Table.2) two times a day and the calves under
T
3
 were offered whole yak milk with bottle
feeding as per body weight requirement. The
concentrate mixture (Table.3) containing 16.52
per cent crude protein and maize fodder
containing 8.20 per cent crude protein were
offered from the beginning of the experiment.
During three months experiment period,
weekly body weight, feed consumption was
recorded to study their gain in body weight,
DM consumption and feed conversion
efficiency. At the end of the experiment cost
of feeding the calves were calculated. The
statistical analysis of the data was carried out
using ANOVA as per standard procedure given
by   Snedecor and Cochran (1994).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
                   Milk replacer can play a pivotal
role in raising healthy calves’ population. The
research findings (Heinrichs and Jones, 2003)
revealed that an ideal milk replacer should
contained 20 to 28 per cent crude protein, 10
to 22 per cent fat, 1 to 2 per cent crude fibre
and 95 per cent TDN which was similar with
the composition of the present study. Such a
composition is essential for optimum growth
and minimum health problems.
               The average initial, final and overall
average body weights of different groups are
presented in Table 4. The difference in the body
weight did not vary significantly among the
group. This clearly indicates that probably there
was no significant difference in assimilation
Effect of feeding milk replacer on growth ....
of ingested feed in the three different treatment
groups. In the present study, the body weight
gain of the milk replacer group (T
2
) also
indicated the quantity of milk replacer that was
offered to the animals was optimum. The
present study is in agreement with the finding
of Ackerman et al. (1969), Galton and Brakel
(1976) and Jenny and O’ Dell (1981) that there
was no significant difference in growth rate
while feeding two different milk replacers. The
overall mean value of body weight gain has
been shown in Table - 4. Although there was a
variation in weekly average body weight gain
among the group, there was no significant
difference in the overall average body weight
gain. These values could not be compared due
to paucity of literature. However, the result of
the present study corroborates with the findings
of Olcay Gular et al. (2006) and Jakir et al.
(2009) in dairy calves.
               The overall average intake of milk
and milk replacer, concentrate and fodder has
been shown in Table- 4.  There was no
significant difference in consumption among
the group. Initial consumption of whole milk
and milk replacer were less which were again
increased and finally decreased. This might be
attributed to the fact that beside the whole milk
and milk replacer, calves were also supplied
with concentrate and fodder. Lower intake of
liquid diet and more intakes of solids with
advancement of age indicate the functional
development of digestive tract particularly the
rumen. The dry matter intake from the milk
replacer was significantly higher in T
2
 than T
1
and T
3 
 groups. This is primarily because of
the chemical composition and the volume of
milk replacer consumed as compared to the
intake of whole milk either in T
1 
or T
3
. Intake
of concentrate and DM was found to be
increased along with the advancement of age
in all the groups and the calves consuming milk
replacer (T
2
) consumed significantly higher
than the other two group ( T
1
 and T
3
).
Supplementation of milk replacer (T
2
)
stimulates the intake of more concentrate and
DM as compared to the whole milk in T
1
 and
T
3
.  The overall fodder intake was significantly
higher in T
2
 followed by T
1
 and T
3
 group. It
was increased with advancement of age of the
calves which is in agreement with finding of
Patel et al. (1990). The overall feed conversion
efficiency was found to be significantly higher
in T
2
 than T
1
 and T
3
 group. The findings could
not be compared due to non availability of
information. However, Rault et al. (1996) found
better feed conversion efficiency by feeding
milk replacer in cross bred calves which
corroborate with the present result.
             The cost of feeding calves with milk
replacer (T
2
) seems to be marginally higher than
the whole milk feeding (T
1
 and T
3
) group. Milk
replacer feeding is always works costlier.
However, in view of saving an orphan yak calf,
this cost price can be ignored.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
                The authors are grateful to the
Director, National Research Centre on Yak,
Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh, for the facilities
provided.
340Tamil Nadu J. Veterinary & Animal Sciences  9 (5 ) 338 - 343 September - October  2013
Sarma et al.
341 Tamil Nadu J. Veterinary & Animal Sciences  9 (5 ) 338 - 343, September - October  2013
Table 1. Composition of milk replacer
Ingredients Parts (%)
Wheat 35.00
Fish meal 10.00
Skim milk 13.50
Soya bean meal 20.00
Coconut oil   8.40
Molasses   8.00
Citric acid   1.50
Butyric acid   0.30
Mineral mixture   3.00
Antibiotic mixture   0.30
Rovimix   0.015
Total   100.015
Table 2. Composition of yak milk
Milk  constituents Per cent
Protein     4.25
Fat     7.87
Total ash     0.87
Total solid   18.77
Table 3.  Composition of concentrate mixture
Ingredients Parts (%)
Maize grain 35.00
Wheat bran 15.00
Rice bran 12.00
Soybean meal 10.00
GNC 10.00
MOC 15.00
Min. mixture   2.00
Common salt   1.00
Effect of feeding milk replacer on growth ....
Parameters       T
1
      T
2
     T
3
Initial body weight (Kg) 18.58+0.86 22.08+0.67 19.92+1.00
Final body weight (Kg) 49.50+1.59 50.83+1.75 47.50+3.53
Overall av. Body weight (Kg) 36.79+5.05a 36.57+2.60a 35.01+2.74a
Overall av. gain in body weight(Kg)   2.58+0.06a   2.44+0.07a   2.58+0.15a
Overall av. intake (Kg)
Milk and milk replacer   1.89+0.08a 2.25+0.28a  1.91+0.03a
Concentrate mixture   0.93+0.90a 1.08+1.082  0.90+0.16a
Fodder   0.27+0.050 0.34+0.073  0.18+0.04
Overall av. DM intake (Kg)
Milk and milk replacer   0.43+0.03a 2.05+0.26  0.35+0.01a
Concentrate mixture   0.78+0.78a 0.91+0.40  0.8+0.26a
Fodder   0.17+0.02 0.03+0.01a  0.05+0.01a
Overall av. feed conversion
efficiency   0.51+0.11a 1.25+0.17  0.45+0.06a
Cost of raising calves (Rs.)    7832.00 6468.46  5884.00
                Similar superscript in row does not differ significantly.
Table 4. Body weight changes (Kg), body weight gain (Kg), feed and
DM (Kg) intake of the Yak calves.
342Tamil Nadu J. Veterinary & Animal Sciences  9 (5 ) 338 - 343, September - October  2013
Sarma et al.
343 Tamil Nadu J. Veterinary & Animal Sciences  9 (5 ) 338 - 343, September - October  2013
REFERENCES
Ackerman,R.A., Thomas,R.O., Thayne,W.V.
and Butcher, D.F. (1969).Effects of
once-a-day feeding of milk replacer on
body weight gain of dairy calves.
Journal of Dairy Science 11:1869-
1872.
 Arora, S.P. (1979). Dairy Hand Book, NDRI,
pp-57.
Galton, D.M.  and Brakel, W.J. (1976).
Influence of feeding milk replacer once
versus twice daily on growth, organ
measurement and mineral content
of tissues. Journal Dairy Science
5: 944-948.
Heinrichs, A.J. and Jones, C.M. (2003). How
much milk should you feed young
calves? Hoard’s Dairyman
148: 652-653.
Jakir, H., Shaheen,M., Bhat, A.S. Gana, N.A.
and Medhi, D. (2009). Effect of milk
replacer on growth performance of
crossbred Jersey calves.
Indian Veterinary Journal
86 (10) : 1057-1059.
Jenny B.F. and O’ Dell, G.D. (1981).
Subsequent performance of calves held
at near birth weight for the first three
weeks of life. Journal Dairy Science
8: 1735-1737.
Olcay Gular, Mete Yanara, Bahri Bayram and
Jale, Metin (2006). The effect of milk
replacer feeding on the performance of
Brown Swiss calves raised in Eastern
Turkey.  Journal of Animal Science and
Veterinary Advances 5 (4). 373-375.
Patel, A.N., Dave, A.D., Patel, K.S. and Patel,
J. P. (1990). Comparative study on
growth rate of Kankrej Holstein-
Friesian (F
2
) calves. Indian Journal
Animal Science 55: 122 -124.
 Rault, P.K., Pandey, H.N., Srivastava, B.B.
Sahoo, A. and Pathak, N.N. (1996).
Growth and nutrient digestibility of
preruminant calves on grain replaced
calf starter. Journal of Applied Animal
Research 9: 175-180.
Snedecor, G.W. and Cochran, W.G. (1994).
Statistical Methods. 8thEdn. Lowa state
University press, Ames, Lowa.


EFFECT OF FEEDING MILK REPLACER ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF YAK CALVES

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=E05DF992D6C46A464905DD5A1E57E65F?doi=10.1.1.1074.7408&rep=rep1&type=pdf

EFFECT OF FEEDING MILK REPLACER ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF YAK CALVES

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

CiteSeerX