Optimizing the growth and immune system of dairy calves by subdividing the pre-weaning period and providing different milk volumes for each stage

Abstract In systematically considering the advantages and disadvantages of complementarity in high or low milk feeding, novel milk feeding schemes involving altering the volume of supplied milk in different stages of the pre-weaning period but maintaining the total milk feeding volume were tested. Twenty-seven newborn male Holstein calves were selected and randomly assigned to 3 treatments. Calves in the control (CON) group were fed 7 L of milk from 4 to 66 d of age. Calves in the low-high (LH) group were fed 6 L of milk at the beginning, and then the feeding volume was later increased to 7 and 8 L of milk, which served as the early-period low-volume feeding group. The calves in the high-low (HL) group were fed 7 and 8 L at the beginning, and then the feeding volume was decreased to 6 L of milk, which served as the early-period high-volume feeding group. Then all calves were fed with 3 L of milk at 67 to 70 d of age, weaned after 70 d of age, and then fed to 100 d of age. All calves had access to the starter feed during 15 to 100 d of age. The diarrheal condition of calves was recorded daily and the growth performance including the starter feed intake and body weight of calves was recorded at 70 and 100 d of age. Then, five 100-d-old calves from each treatment were sampled for measurement of plasma indices, ruminal morphology, and volatile fatty acids. When compared with the CON and LH groups, calves in the HL group exhibited a significantly increased body weight and lower diarrhoeal rate. When compared with the CON group, calves in the HL group exhibited a significantly increased average daily feed intake, ruminal epithelium papillae length, total volatile fatty acids, and percentages of propionate and butyrate. Moreover, the significantly increased plasma immunoglobulin G (IgG) content and a trend of decreased tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) content (P = 0.083) were also identified in the HL group when compared with the CON group. Overall, the early-period high-volume feeding for calves produced greater body weight gain and a lower incidence of diarrhea.