Effects of three colostrum-feeding methods on the behaviour and management of dairy calves

Sammanfattning: Saving time and money are always important considerations in the agricultural sector and in dairy farming the calves’ management plays a central role. One of the most important aspects of rearing calves is the colostrum-feeding routines and several studies have come to the same conclusion that the volume fed, quality of milk fed and when the calves are fed after parturition, are the three most important aspects. This master thesis was done as a part of a larger research study that evaluated the effects of 3 different ways of feeding colostrum to calves during the first feeding; being fed by a bottle compared to with an oesophageal tube (OT) or if the calves first were fed with a bottle and thereafter could suckle the dam during the first 24 hours after parturition. The aim of this master thesis was to investigate the calves behaviour and management compared between the different feeding routines. The study took place at the Swedish Livestock Research Centre Lövsta in Uppsala Sweden. The study was made during February- September 2015, and 21 calves were included in the study. Both heifer calves (12) and bull calves (9) were used and 13 of the calves were of Swedish Holstein (SLB) breed and 8 were of Swedish Red (SRB) breed and the distribution between sex, breed and treatments were random. Before calving the dam was moved into a separate calving pen and within 4 hours after parturition the calf was allocated to one of the 3 treatments and moved into a separate treatment pen. Criteria’s for the calves to be included in the study were: the dams had to be healthy primi- or multiparous cows whom did not have any dry-period treatment, the dams should not have suffered from dystocia, have enough colostrum for the calves (8.5% of the calves body weight), the colostrum had to be of good quality (at least 20% Brix) and the calves birthweight had to be 30 kilos or more. During the first 4 feedings behaviours, time spent on feeding and amount fed were observed and analyzed. Behaviours were analyzed from video-recordings during the treatment (first colostrum feeding) but also 30 minutes after treatment, when the calf was left alone. During the 2nd-4th feeding the behaviours were analyzed from both direct observations and video-recordings, the same person did all the behavioral observations. The behavioural data, time spent on feeding and amount fed were analyzed with the Kruskal-Wallis test and birthweight were tested with the Shapiro-Wilk W test and analyzed with one-way ANOVA. Number of ‘attempts to feed’ during the first feeding were significantly (p=0.004) lower for calves fed with an OT compared to both the other groups. There was a tendency (p=0.07) that calves fed with an OT vocalized more during the first feeding. Calves from both the bottle- and the suckling group lied down earlier than calves from the OT group. Calves from the suckling group lied down during a longer duration compared to the other groups. No clear pattern was found for cross-sucking was found, however calves from the suckling group did not cross-suck at all during the 4th feeding. During the 2nd to the 4th feedings the calves that had been fed with an OT during the first feeding were in average more resistant to feeding compared to the other groups. It took significantly less (p=0.05) time to feed the OT group during the first feeding and significantly less (p=0.05) time to feed the bottle group during the 2nd feeding. It took least time in average for the first 4 feeding to feed calves from the suckling group and the most for the OT group. This was partly due to the fact that calves in the suckling group were not fed on the 2nd feeding as they suckled the dam. Calves from the OT group fed in average less during the first 4 feedings, however were the differences were not significant. There are both positive (control quantity fed, quality fed and time when being fed) and negative aspects (risk of injuring the oesophagus, the groove reflex is not triggered and stress) of using an OT. The conclusion drawn was that no advantages of using an OT during the colostrum feeding were found in regard to ease of feeding, time spent on feeding and amount fed. Due to the low number of animals included in this study, further research in the area is required to confirm the findings presented on this thesis.