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Performance of male and female girolando calves in gradual weaning with sorghum silage supplementation


Journal of Dairy, Veterinary & Animal Research
Iara Maria França Reis, Kariny Fonseca da Silva, Matheus Xavier Costa, Pedro Augusto Motta Moreira Ribeiro, Emanuelly Gomes Alves Mariano, Brenda Karoline Alcântara Faria, Mário Henrique França Mourthé, Luciana Castro Geraseev, Eduardo Robson Duarte
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the solid food intake, performance and diarrhea incidence male and female Girolando young calves. The following fractional artificial milk feeding was used: from the 3rd to the 33rd day received 3 liters of milk in the morning and 3 liters in the afternoon, only in the morning the calves received 3 liters from the 34th to 49th days, and 2 liters between 50th to 63th days. All calves were provided ad libitum access to water and for starter concentrate and sorghum silage, from the 2th and 4th weeks, respectively. The animals were evaluated in subdivided plot design, comparing female males during nine weeks of live. We observed higher body weight and weight gain for females compared to males from 6th and 7th weeds, respectively (p <0.05). The concentrate intake was significantly higher for males from 5th week, while silage intake was higher for females from 6th week (p <0.05). Diarrhea index was low in female and negatively correlated with weight gain, body weight and wither and croup height (p <0.001). Specifically for males, this index correlated positively with the starter concentrate intake of from 5th week (p <0.05). In conclusion, females presented better performance ingesting more silage than male calves. Starter concentrate intake was higher for males which could be considered a risk for rumen acidosis and diarrhea.

Keywords

dairy cattle, girolando, weight gain, ponderal development, diarrhea, semiarid

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