Suntetorp Säteri Farm, Sweden, 2005

The effect of Maikki Fiber feed supplement (containing Progut™) on the health and performance of calves. Suntetorp Säteri farm, Sweden 2005.

Maikki Fiber is a feed supplement to milk for calves in bucket feeding. It supplements the mineral, trace element and vitamin composition of milk and contains also fibres and Progut™(appendix 1). The aim of the trial was to investigate the effect of Maikki Fiber on the health and performance of calves from birth to 70 days of age.

Materials and methods

The trial was carried out at Suntetorp farm in Sweden during 2005. There were 108 calves in the control group and 70 calves in the test group. Due to overdosing of Maikki-Fibre in the beginning of the trial part of the calves in the test group were taken out. The following treatments were tested.

Control Group: 6 litres milk per calf and day, concentrate fed ad lib

Test Group: as above but the milk was supplemented with Maikki Fiber

- During the colostrum period, 10g of Maikki Fiber was added per litre of milk

- After the colostrum period 20g of Maikki Fiber was added per litre of milk until weaning

- The Amount of Progut™ was 1,5 g/calf/day during colostrum period and then 3,0 g/calf/day until weaning

Calves were weighed individually at birth and at 70 days of age. Diarrhoea and the duration of diarrhoea were registered individually and diarrhoea days were calculated. The age when each individual calf ate 1 kg of concentrate per day was registered.

Results

Concentrate consumption started at around 14 days of age in both groups, but the Test group tended (p=0.09) to reach 1 kg/day level sooner (see table below). This indicates a quicker development of rumen functions, which has also been seen in previous trials. Calves in the Test group had significantly higher 70 day weight and daily gain than calves in the Control group (see table below). They also had a significantly lower number of diarrhoea days.

Group	N	Birth weight (kg)	Diarrhoea days	Diarrhoea days/calf	Age days Concentr. 1kg/day	Weaning age (days)	Weight at 70 days	Gain g/day
Control	108	42.0	208	1.93	57.4	63.8	93.0	728.2

Test	70	41.3	93	1.33	55.8	62.1	95.1	769.2

Difference		-0.7		-0.6	-1.6	-1.7	2.1	41.0
p-value/signific.		0.370ns		0.047*	0.089ns	0.133ns	0.021*	0.030*

SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER 70 DAY WEIGHT AND DAILY GAIN THAN CALVES IN THE CONTROL GROUP

Control
Birth wt (kg)	N	Birth wt (kg)	Gain (g/day)	Weight at 70 days	Gain (kg)

<35	13	32.5	681	80.1	47.7	12%
<40	29	37.4	686	85.4	48.0	27%
<45	29	41.5	771	95.5	54.0	27%
<50	21	46.5	705	95.9	49.4	19%
<55	11	51.2	783.7	106.0	54.9	10%
>55	5	57.8	818	115.1	57.3	5%
x	108	42.0	728.2	93.0	51.0

Test
Birth wt (kg)	N	Birth weight (kg)	Gain (g/day)	Weight 70 days	Gain (kg)

<35	7	31.7	797	87.5	55.8	10%
<40	14	37.5	768	91.2	53.7	20%
<45	31	41.6	742	93.6	52.0	44%
<50	14	46.1	742	93.6	52.0	44%
<55	4	51.8	799	107.7	56.0	6%
>55
x	70	41.3	769.2	95.1	53.8

The birth weight division among treatments were not equal. 15 % of calves in the Control group were heavier than 50kg at birth, but only 6 % in the Test group respectively (see tables above and figure below).

There was a significant positive correlation between birth weight and the daily live weight gain in the Control group (see figure below). The calves with higher birth weights grew faster than the calves with lower birth weights. However, the same was not seen in the Test group and the daily live weight gain in the Test group was almost equal in all weight classes. Despite of the difference in the birth weights the average end weight and daily weight gain of the Test group were higher than control. It seems that the addition of Maikki Fibre to milk decreased the variation in growth.

Suntetorp 1

Conclusions

- The calves fed with Maikki-Fibre in the milk had significantly higher 70d weight (+ 6%) and average daily gain than the control

- The addition of Maikki-Fibre significantly lowered the number of diarrhoea days per calf

- The calves in the test group tended (p=0.09) to reach a concentrate intake of 1 kg per day sooner than the calves in the control group

- The Addition of Maikki Fibre to milk seemed to decrease the variation in growth