Grøndahl Ann Margaret, Skancke Ellen Margrete, Mejdell Cecilie Marie, Jansen Johan Høgset
Department of Companion Animal Clinical Sciences, Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway.
Acta Vet Scand. 2007 Jun 23;49(1):16. doi: 10.1186/1751-0147-49-16.
Over a period of two years, growth rate and health were measured for dairy calves allowed to suckle their mothers up to 6-8 weeks of age. Thirty-one calves were weighted weekly, and the mean daily growth rate was 1.2 +/- 0.03 kg from birth up to 13 weeks of age. Illness in calves and young stock was not observed. In the cows, the mean incidences of ketosis, displaced abomasum, puerperal paresis, mastitis, teat injury and retained placenta were 0, 0, 8, 22, 1 and 1%, respectively, during a 6-year period. The mean daily gain of 56 growing bulls was 1.4 kg when slaughtered at 15 months of age, which is higher than the mean daily gain of 0.95 kg in the population. Probiotics, hormones and vaccines were not used, and antibiotics were only used for treating illness. The present study indicates many advantages and few problems when dairy calves are penned together with the cows and allowed natural feeding up to 6-8 weeks of age. This production system was easy to manage, preferred by the farmer, and may satisfy the public concern regarding the practice of immediate separation of cow and calf in commercial milk production.
在两年的时间里，对允许 suckle 其母亲直至 6 - 8 周龄的奶牛犊的生长速度和健康状况进行了测量。31 头犊牛每周称重，从出生到 13 周龄，平均日生长速度为 1.2±0.03 千克。未观察到犊牛和幼畜患病情况。在奶牛方面，在 6 年期间，酮病、皱胃移位、产后瘫痪、乳腺炎、乳头损伤和胎衣不下的平均发病率分别为 0、0、8、22、1 和 1%。56 头生长公牛在 15 月龄屠宰时的平均日增重为 1.4 千克，高于该群体 0.95 千克的平均日增重。未使用益生菌、激素和疫苗，抗生素仅用于治疗疾病。本研究表明，当奶牛犊与奶牛圈养在一起并允许自然哺乳至 6 - 8 周龄时，有许多优点且问题较少。这种生产系统易于管理，受到农民青睐，并且可能满足公众对商业牛奶生产中奶牛和犊牛立即分离做法的关注。 （注：suckle 此处疑有误，可能是 suck 等词，翻译时按原词译出）
