PREFERENCE AMONG DIFFERENT GRAINS EXPRESSED BY YOUNG HOLSTEIN CALVES

Abstract

To assess whether young calves express a preference for the cereal component of their diet 24 calves from 3 to 17 wk of age were presented with a feed tray that contained a choice of four cereals — barley, wheat, corn and oats (exp. 1) and another group of 12 calves from 10 to 34 d of age were fed a choice of complete mixed calf starters based on barley, corn, oats and hull-less oats (exp. 2). The preference expressed by the calves was barley > wheat, corn or oats in exp. 1 and barley > hull-less oats or corn > oats by the end of exp. 2. Key words: Preference, grain consumption, barley, corn, oats