Calves suckling their dam, or otherwise fed ad-libitum, ingest about 20% of body weight (BW) per day and reach up to 1kg of daily weight gain. Traditionally, dairy farmers have been advised to feed calves approximately 10% of the calf's BW per day ofmilk or milk replacer (i.e. 4L for Holstein calves). This level of nutrition is only sufficient for maintenance requirements, and the advice was designed to encourage calves to eat concentrates as early as possible, and thus to minimise costs associatedwith relatively expensive liquid feeds.Calves on such restricted feeding regimes will only achieve 20-30% of their potential growth rates, and this will have negative implications for health, future performance and animal welfare. Very high milk rations or ad-lib feeding, on the other hand, can have a negative impact on concentrate intake, which will either delay weaning or cause a growth check after weaning.
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