Report: Deliverable 3.2 Effects of mother-bonded calf rearing on meat quality in calves

Summary

We tested the hypotheis that calves allowed dam suckling (MS) twice a day would benefit with regard to meat quality compared to twice a day bucket fed (BF) group mates. On farm trials iwthGerman Friesian Cattle were carried out on an organic certified commercial farm between autumn 2018 and summer 2020, of which 8 MS and 11 BF calves were slaughtered. The pH measured 24 hours after slaughtering did not differ in meat from calves of different feeding regimes.
We also could not identify any difference between meat of BF and MS calves regarding colour, lipid oxidation or fatty acid composition.
From our results we conclude that meat quality does not benefit from mother contact alone, when milk intake is comparable between calves with and without mother contact.