ASSOCIATION AMONG FLUID, GRAIN INTAKE AND WEIGHT GAIN IN HOLSTEIN BULL CALVES

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine water intake. Forty-four Holstein bull calves were evaluated to investigate the effects of starter intake, body weight, temperature and time to predict water intake. A model was developed using PROC GLM in SAS. Least square means separation were used to identify significant effects. Starter intake was a significant variable (P < 0.05) in predicting the water intake of a calf, especially after day 21 when starter intake and water intake were both increasing. Water intake was increased by calves with fecal scores of 1 and 2. However, water intake was significantly different for calves with fecal scores of 3 or 4 with a (P < 0.05) which had decreased water intake. The interaction between scours and fecal score were not significant. Water intakes significantly differ in calves that had scour and in calves not experimented scours.