Replacing concentrates with a high-quality hay in the starter feed in dairy calves: I. Effects on nutrient intake, growth performance, and blood metabolic profile

Abstract

Concentrate-rich starter feeds are commonly fed to dairy calves to stimulate early solid feed intake and growth performance; yet, starter feeds lacking in forage fiber may jeopardize gut development. This research primarily aimed to test a complete or partial replacement of concentrates with hay of different qualities in the starter feed on nutrient intake, growth performance, apparent total-tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients, and blood metabolites in dairy calves. Immediately after birth, 40 Holstein Friesian calves were randomly allocated to 1 of 4 starter diets, which differed in hay quality and concentrate inclusion [MQH = 100% medium-quality hay, 9.4 MJ of metabolizable energy (ME), 149 g of crude protein (CP), 522 g of neutral detergent fiber (NDF)/kg of dry matter (DM); HQH = 100% high-quality hay, 11.2 MJ of ME, 210 g of CP, 455 g of NDF/kg of DM; MQH+C = 30% medium-quality hay + 70% starter concentrate; HQH+C = 30% high-quality hay + 70% starter concentrate]. The concentrate consisted mainly of grains, oilseeds, and mineral supplements (13.5 MJ of ME, 193 g of CP, 204 g of NDF/kg of DM). Calves were used in the experiment from d 1 to 99 of life. During the first 4 wk, all calves were fed acidified whole milk ad libitum, and afterward they were gradually weaned from wk 5 to 12. Calves had ad libitum access to their starter diets and water throughout the experiment. Milk, water, and solid feed intake was recorded daily, live weight was measured once a week, and blood samples were collected on d 1, 3, 7, 21, 49, 77, and 91 and analyzed for selected metabolites. The ATTD was measured in wk 14 of life. Total DM intake and daily weight gain of calves were not affected by the starter feed during the first 8 wk of life. However, from wk 9 to 14, calves fed the MQH diet had lower DM, ME, and CP intake and gained less weight than calves from the other experimental groups. Feeding the HQH diet resulted in similar CP and ME intake and growth performance compared with calves receiving diets containing concentrates. Furthermore, feeding the HQH diet improved the ATTD of NDF, resulting in similar ATTD of organic matter with the HQH+C and MQH+C groups. Interestingly, calves fed the HQH+C diet showed less sorting for concentrate, compared with the MQH+C group. Concentration of blood metabolites, including glucose, lactate, insulin, nonesterified fatty acids, triglycerides, and total protein, did not differ after the first week of life. However, serum β-hydroxybutyrate was higher in calves fed the HQH diet starting from wk 11. Both groups fed the hay-only diets maintained higher cholesterol levels after weaning compared with the groups fed hay-concentrate mixtures. In conclusion, feeding high-quality hay can fully replace starter concentrates in the feeding of dairy calves without adverse effects on performance during the rearing period, while increasing forage fiber intake and utilization, which enhanced ruminal ketogenesis and cholesterogenesis around weaning. Further research is needed to evaluate long-term effects of feeding high-quality hay on health and development of dairy calves, especially in terms of the observed improvements in ruminal ketogenesis and cholesterogenesis around weaning.