ABSTRACT
Restricted suckling in spring born calves: Effects on the calf and the cow

Marisol González Y.1, Ljubo Goic M.1 y Luis Castro L.1
 

A trial was carried out at the Remehue Experimental Station (INIA), Osorno, Chile, from September 1980 to July 1981, in order to compare restricted suckling vs. artificial rearing, with a commercial milk replacer.
Fourteen five days oId Holstein-Friesian calves were allotted at random to the following treatments: I. Artificial rearing with a commercial milk replacer once a day: and II. Restricted suckling (two hours in the morning only). Calves from treatment I were placed in individual pens until weaning and on pasture afterwards. Calves from treatment II were1 Recepción de originales: 25 de junio de 1982.
2 Estación Experimental Bemehue (1 N A), Casil la 1110, Osorno, Chile.
placed in small paddocks from the beginning of the trial. Both groups received concentrate on the pasture, where they stayed until they were six months oid.
Weight gains were statistically different (P 0.05): 0.420 vs. 0.520 kg/day during milk feeding, and 0.422 vs. 0.711 kg/day on pasture, for treatments I and II respectively.
No significative differences (P 0.05) were observed in number of days of lactation, total milk production, daily milk production/cow, and butterfat percentage or in days from pregnancy to birth and number of inseminations/pregnancy.

Keywords:
1 Estación Experimental Remehue (INIA), Casilla 1110, Osorno, Chile.