Thiamine Deficiency in the Calf

Abstract

Fourteen new-born dairy calves were used in a study of their thiamine requirements. Thirteen of these had colostrum for from 12 to 48 hours and one had no colostrum. All received the highly purified diet previously used in these studies. Seven of the calves served as positive controls and 7 as test animals; the only difference in the treatment of the 2 groups was that the positive controls received thiamine, whereas the test group did not. Records of daily observations for signs of deficiency, weekly weights, and weekly examination of 24-hour urine samples and of blood for thiamine and pyruvic acid were made for 11 weeks, or for as long as the calves lived. From the data obtained, the following conclusions seem justified: