Íslenskar landbúnaðarrannsóknir - 01.03.1969, Page 29

ELDI SLÁTURKÁLFA 27
S U M M A R Y
CALF-REARING ON A MIXTURE OF WILOLE MILK POWDER
AND SKIMMED MILK POWDER
Ólafur Jónsson
Akureyri, Iceland
Three calf-rearing trials were performed at the Cattle Breeding Centre at Lund-
ur near Akureyri in the years 1964 to 1966.
The aim of the trials in 1964 and 1965 was to find out if ancl how profitable
it could be to rear calves up to 100 days of age entirely on a mixture of whole
milk powder and skimmed milk powder in which tlie latter would be the rnajor
constituent. The mixture used in 1964 consisted of two parts per weight of
skimmed rnilk powder and one part of whole milk powder, while in 1965 the
proportions were three parts and one part respectively. For each trial 12 bull
calves of the Iceland breed were used. These were the sons of two sires.
The health and live-weight gain of the calves was good and their carcass
weight satisfactory. The production of veal in these trials seerned profitable
when compared with the price obtainable for dried whole milk and dried
skimmed milk at that time.
l’he trial in 1966 was also made with 12 calves, and this time calves were
divided at random in two groups, A and B. Group A was treated in the same
way as the calves had been in the 1965 trial, whereas Group B obtained a
mixture of whole milk powder and skimmed milk powder in which the
whole rnilk powder content was only 11 per cent. The health of the calves in
Group A was satisfactory, whereas all calves except one in Group B died
during the trial. From this it can be concluded that feeding calves on a mix-
ture of whole milk powcler and skimmed milk powder can be performed sucess-
fully, if 25 per cent of the mixture is whole milk powder. Whether the propor-
tion of this ingredient can be somewhat less is not established from these trials,
except that 11 per cent is too little.
No decisive difference was found in the calves according to sires used. The
difference in age of the calves was so small that it seems to have had no notice-
able influence on carcass weight at the time of slaughter. There was a marked
correlation between live-weight and heart-girth on one hand and carcass weight
on the other hand. Finally the food intake of the calves does not only seem to
have hacl influence on tlie carcass weight, but also on the feed utilization for
veal production.