Effects of twice a day teat bucket feeding compared to twice a day mother suckling on behaviour, health traits and blood immune parameters in dairy calves and immune parameters in cow's milk

Summary

Early separation of cow and calf is still common practice in dairy production systems, but interest in calf rearing with cow contact has been constantly increasing in recent years. We investigated the hypothesis that calves suckling their mother twice a day during four months of life would benefit with regard to behaviour and health traits, when compared to teat bucket fed calves, even when fed at comparable milk amounts. Moreover, the effect of calf contact on content of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and lactoferrin in cow milk beyond the colostrum period was investigated. We conducted on farm trials on two organic farms from 2018-2021, where we randomly assigned the born calves by sex and parity status of the mother (primi- or multiparous) to either teat bucket feeding twice a day (BF, n= 30 cow-calf couples) or mother suckling (MS, n=28 cow-calf couples) twice a day after milking. MS calves performed less cross-sucking, but manipulation of objects did not differ by feeding group nor did avoidance distance of calves. Clinical findings regarding vitality, body condition traits, indicators for diarrhoea and respiratory disorders and number of medical treatments, did not differ between feeding groups, but differed considerably between farms.
Lactate level in whole blood of calves revealed contradictory results between farms (farm1: BF>MS, farm 2: BF≤MS). Mean total protein values in serum showed an interaction between feeding and parity status of the cow (primiparous: BF>MS, multiparous: BF≤MS). Glucose content (as indicator of energy level) and packed cell volume (as indicator for iron deficiency anaemia) were higher in MF compared to BF calves. By contrast, no difference between feeding groups was found with regard to IgG content in calf serum.
Consistent with the latter, IgG in cow milk did not differ between cows with or without calf contact and showed a clear decrease with time, while lactoferrin content in cow milk did not differ between rearing systems nor did it change with time.
We conclude that even restricted access to the mother is a means to reduce abnormal behavior, i.e. cross-sucking (but not manipulation of objects) and satisfies sucking needs of calves. By contrast, the effect of feeding regime on the health traits investigated was limited. Differences between farms underline the importance of management factors on calf health. Furthermore, we conclude that prolonged contact to the calf did not modulate the investigated content of antimicrobial compounds in milk.

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• Effects of twice a day teat bucket feeding compared to twice a day mother suckling on behaviour, health traits and blood immune parameters in dairy calves and immune parameters in cow's milk. (deposited 03 Jan 2022 10:10) [Currently Displayed]
  • Effects of twice a day teat bucket feeding compared to twice a day mother suckling on behaviour, health traits and blood immune parameters in dairy calves and immune parameters in cow's milk. (deposited 20 May 2022 07:17)