The age at first consumption of forage in calves and its effect on growth and rumination in the short- and long-term

Table 1 Chemical composition and particle size distribution in the starter, hay, milk and TMR

Item	Calf starter¹	Oat hay²	Milk	TMR³
Chemical composition
Dry matter, %	88.7	88.0	13.0	50.7
Crude protein, % of DM	22.8	6.4	27.4	17.4
Fat, % DM	-	-	30.8	-
SNF⁴, % DM	-	-	69.2	-
Starch, % DM	32.3	0.6	-	17.5
NDF, % of DM	17.0	47.7	-	34.6
ADF, % of DM	10.5	25.6	-	25.6
ASH, % of DM	7.4	4.6	-	-
EE, % of DM	1.7	1.4	-	3.0
ME⁵, Mcal/kg of DM	2.9	2.2	5.4	2.5
Particles⁶, %
Long	-	39.0	-	8.4
Medium	-	25.1	-	42.0
Short	-	18.1	-	14.2
Fine	-	16.4	-	35.4

¹Calf starter was supplied by Modern Farming Co., Ltd., containing 33.6% corn, 18.8% fermented soybean meal, 14.1% soy hulls, 10.5% soybean meal, 6.3% wheat bran, 6.3% wheat flour, 5.4% whey powder, 5% premix compound (contained vitamin A 200,000 IU/kg, vitamin D 25,000 IU/kg, vitamin E 2,000 IU/kg, manganese 0.6 g/kg, iron 0.4 g/kg, copper 0.5 g/kg, zinc 2 g/kg, cobalt 4 mg/kg, iodine 16 mg/kg, and selenium 4 mg/kg) on a dry matter (DM) basis
²Oat hay was cut less than 2.5 cm using a stationary mixer (20 m³, Trioliet Co., Ltd., Holland)
³The total mixed ration (TMR) was composed of 39.4% alfalfa hay, 32.5% corn silage, 13.5% soybean meal, 11.7% steam flaked corn and 2.9% premix compound (contained vitamin A 300,000 IU/kg, vitamin D 80,000 IU/kg, vitamin E 2,000 IU/kg, Mn 2.0 g/kg, Cu 0.7 g/kg, Zn 2.5 g /kg, Co 20 mg/kg, iodine 15 mg/kg, and selenium 14 mg/kg) on a dry matter basis
⁴SNF: Solid non-fat
⁵ME for calf starter, hay, milk and TMR was calculated according to NRC (2001) [10] equations
⁶Samples for particle size were analyzed using a 4-sieve (19, 8, 4 mm and bottom) Penn State Particle Separator

ISSN: 2049-1891