In the first 80 days of fattening, CGSES
calves showed a higher final body weight and
ADG compared to CG calves although DMI
were similar among feeding treatments (Table2). Milk-replacer intake resulted similar
among feeding treatments despite the planned
restriction for CGSES calves. Although
roughage provision is known to reduce DMI in
young cattle (Nocek and Kesler, 1980), all
calves consumed the entire amount of solid
feed delivered regardless of the feeding treatment.
In a previous study by Suarez et al.
(2007), the substitution of concentrate with
30% of straw in the solid feed for veal calves
reduced both, DMI and ADG in the first 10
weeks of fattening. In the current study, the
substitution of corn grain with 20% of straw
did not worsen and even improved CGS and
CGSES calves’ growth performance, respectively.
Moreover, the restriction to 96% of milkreplacer
for CGSES calves and its partial substitution
by a solid feed mixture that included
extruded soybean showed positive effects on
growth in this early stage of fattening. This