Date of Award
2013
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department
Agriculture
First Advisor
Katherine Koudele
Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine if feeding probiotics to a young calf ould result in earlier development of rumen function and the concomitant increase in daily grain intake, permitting the calf to be weaned at a younger age. A total of heifer calves were assigned at birth to one of two groups: the control group was fed grain without any probiotics and the treatment group was fed the same grain, but with the probiotics added. The probiotic used was Dairyman's Edge Pro(R). The calves were measured for height and weight at birth, 30 days, weaning, and 60 days of age. The amount of feed consumed was also measured daily. Upon analysis of the data collected, it was clear that the probiotic components in Dairyman's Edge Pro(R) did not result in faster calf growth or a younger age at weaning. However, the product's actual activity inside the calf is unknown and could be the subject of future research.
Recommended Citation
Quezada, Kristy, "An Evaluation of a Probiotic Supplement on Dairy Calf Growth: Birth - 60 Days Old" (2013). Honors Theses. 71.
https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/honors/71/
https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/honors/71
Subject Area
Calves--Feeding and feed, Probiotics, Dietary supplements.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/honors/71/