Comparison of Lard, Tallow, Butter, and Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil in Starters and of Pelleted vs. Nonpelleted Coastal Bermudagrass Hay for Calves

Abstract

A total of 99 calves was used in 3 experiments to study; (a) the effect of adding various fats to starters, (b) the influence of Ca level in high fat starters, and (c) the affect of grinding and pelleting vs. grinding Coastal Bermudagrass hay on calf performance. In Experiment 1, 56 baby calves were fed one of 7 starters and pelleted or coarsely ground Coastal Bermuda-grass hay ad libitum in an 8-wk growth trial. The addition of 10% butter, tallow, lard, or hydrogenated cottonseed oil to starters did not significantly (P = 0.05) affect weight gains. days of diarrhea, or hay consumption. Level of Ca in starters containing hydrogenated cottonseed oil had little influence on calf performance. Pelleting the hay approximately doubled its consumption and reduced the starter eaten, but did not affect the total amount of feed consumed. In cafeteria trials the control starter was decidedly more palatable than those containing added fat. The following order of decreasing palatability was indicated for the others; butter, lard, hydrogenated cotton seed oil, and tallow. Calves exhibited a decided perference for the pelleted hay. In Experiment 3, pelleting the hay increased hay consumption and gains of older calves with either a low or medium level of concentrates.