Filled Milks for Dairy Calves. III. Comparative Value of Various Soybean Oils and Butter Oil in a Practical Dietary Regime

Abstract

Investigations of the effects of feeding soybean oil-filled milks to young dairy calves have shown that crude soybean oil is markedly inferior to milk fat (6, 8) but that hydrogenated soybean oil is almost equal to milk fat (8, 12). Studies of the dietary value of cottonseed oils (9) also revealed that growth and health of calves fed a purified diet containing hydrogenated oil were better than those of calves fed a similar diet containing nonhydrogenated refined oil. Since in the previous work with hydrogenated vegetable oils (8, 9, 12), the calves were restricted to purified diets or reconstituted "milks" supplemented with vitamins and minerals, it seemed desirable to determine the effects of feeding various soybean oil-filled milks to young calves raised under conditions generally encountered in dairy herds. The trial reported herein was designed to ascertain the practicability of using soybean oil-filled milks with hay and grain as a diet for young calves. PROCEDURE