Vol. 7, Issue 7 (2018)

Author(s):
Kamalahasan K, Sasikala N, Sabin George, G Prakash and Chaitanya kumar B

Abstract:
The present study was conducted to evaluate the economics of feeding different milk replacers in crossbred calves. Eighteen healthy crossbred calves both male and female around one week of age were selected and randomly divided into three groups of six each (T1, T2, and T3), as uniformly as possible with regard to age, sex, and body weight. The calves of T1 received whole milk as per routine farm practice, T2 group was offered whole milk plus commercial milk replacer as per manufacturers recommendation and T3 group was offered a formulated milk replacer @ 12.5 per cent of body weight. The results showed that the total recurring feed cost was significantly lower in T2 followed by T3 in comparison to whole milk. The decrease in total recurring feed cost in comparison to whole milk group was 47.15 and 53.82, respectively for the group T2 and T3. The result showed similar trends in the recurring feed cost per kg of body weight gain. It was concluded that rising of crossbred calves on formulated milk replacer was a better option for the farmer to reduce the cost of rearing.