Holstein calves (both bulls and heifers) are of great financial importance to both dairies and feedyards in the desert southwest. For steers, their availability and uniformity and overall production have out weighed the potential deficits in carcass characteristics (smaller and elongated ribeye area, increase kidney, pelvic and heart fat, etc.) and increased maintenance costs. In Arizona alone,...

This experiment was conducted to evaluate and compare the effects of inorganic organic selenium sources with carriers on growth performance, starter feed intake, blood parameters, concentration glutathione peroxidase in suckling Holstein calves. To this objective, 40 calves (38.47±2.52 kg average birth weight) at 7 days age were selected randomly divided into four experimental groups (10 replic...

BACKGROUND Diarrhea because of Salmonella infection is a cause of neonatal calf diarrhea. The stimulation of passive immunity in the calf by vaccinating the dam for Salmonella has shown some success in previous studies; however, there are no data on the use of currently licensed vaccines in the United States. OBJECTIVE To determine whether vaccinating cows at dry-off with a commercially avail...

BACKGROUND This preliminary study was aimed at evaluating the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on Toll like receptor 9 (TLR9) gene and some immunological parameters in a population of Italian Holstein calves. METHODS The study was carried out in a commercial farm on 68 Holstein calves aging about 6 months. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear c...

The objective of this research was to determine the influence of dietary Se on various indicators of Se status and relative liver glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx-1) messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in growing Holstein bull calves. Calves (n = 14, 7/diet) were started 28 d after birth on a Se-adequate (SeA) or Se-deficient diet (SeD) and maintained on the diet until 180 d of age. Blood samples were tak...

The present study was conducted to determine the optimum age of Holstein dairy calves for an effective inclusion of alfalfa hay (AH) in starter feed on performance, apparent digestibility and feeding behavior. A total of 40 Holstein dairy calves (20 female and 20 male) were used in a completely randomized design in which calves were randomly assigned to one of four different dietary treatments ...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of two different levels of starter protein and amounts of milk fed on animal health, fecal score, immune responses and microbial population in the rumen of Holstein male calves. Two levels of starter crude protein (17 and 20% of starter dry matter (DM) and two levels of milk fed (7 and 10% of body weight) were combined in a 2 × 2 factorial exp...

BACKGROUND Failure of transfer of passive immunity (FTPI) is the underlying predisposing risk factor for most early losses in dairy calves. Refractometers, either optical or digital, can be used to assess FTPI as a part of calf health monitoring program on dairy operations. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the performance of and differences between digital Brix and optical refractometers for assessing ...

BACKGROUND Cholesterol deficiency (CD), a newly identified autosomal recessive genetic defect in Holstein cattle, is associated with clinical signs of diarrhea, failure to thrive, and hypocholesterolemia. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES The objective is to describe the clinicopathological phenotype of affected Holstein cattle homozygous for the causative apolipoprotein B gene (APOB) mutation. ANIMALS...

in order to compare the effects of different weaning strategies on feed intake, structural growth measurement and health, blood metabolites and economic efficiency of young dairy calves, twenty four female holstein calves were used. calves after birth were randomly assigned into one of three weaning strategy as follow: 1) weaning based on feed intake, 2) weaning based on weight gain (30 kg weig...