Wachstum und Entwicklungsqualität von Milchrindkälbern in Gruppenhaltung mit Tränkeautomatenfütterung. Physiologische Variablen und deren Änderungen in spezifischen Altersperioden

Abstract. Title of the paper: Growth and development quality of dairy calves reared in groups with an automatic milk feeder. Physiological variables and their changes at specific age periods
On 38 dairy calves (20 male, 18 female) measurements of growth Performance and of body temperature (RT) and blood sampling were made at 15, 30, 60 and 90 days of age of the calves. Blood was analysed for acid-base balance, biochemical and hematological values, minerals and hemoglobin derivatives. Effects of season (groupl: calvings from October tili December; group 2: calvings from January tili April) and of gender were considered. Growth Performance was different between the groups at all age points. Group effects existed at 15 days (RT, Hk, MetHb, Laktat, P), at 30 days (RT, P), at 60 days (Hb, O₂CAP, pH, BE, HCO₃, P), at 90 days (pCO₂, blood urea, Mg, Fe). Gender effects became obvious at 30 days (O₂CONT, O₂SAT, MetHb, HHb, pCO₂). Interactions of group and gender occured at 15 days (P), at 30 days (O₂CONT, pCO₂), at 60 days (COHb, Mg) and at 90 days (Hb, O₂CAP). Between age point mean differences could be found for acid-base Status, total protein, albumin, Creatinine, blood urea, glucose, Mg and for the hematological variables. In most cases between age point changes of variables showed strong negativ correlations with the starting values at 15 days of age. Directed changes of most variables within life age periods developed with different degrees depending on development quality and on specific husbandry conditions.