Faten Salah El-Din said that she has been buying
calves a long time ago but this year the price has fallen unexpectedly to its lowest rate decreasing by about 30% compared to its price three years ago.
The tricky question is whether
calves got enough colostrum soon enough.
Ultimately, this should offer
calves a head-start in terms of growth - as much as 1.2kg/day more than
calves born as a result of repeated heats.
The latest BCMS (British Cattle Movement Service) data shows that the average
calves per lifetime is currently 5.4, with an average calving interval of 432 days.
This low productivity contrasts with ratios of 60-80
calves per 100 cows observed just after the peak of Beverly calving during the 1980s and 1990s (Gunn and Sutherland, 1997).
Farmers want to rear strong
calves which are robust and grow well, but there is a fine balance and
calves that are too large can have problems during birth.
800kg) gave birth to
calves by 0.15 kg and 0.46 kg heavier than cows in the other two weight ranges of 800-700 kg and <700 kg.
"No individual, entity or institution can legally collect orphaned elephant
calves without KWS authorising it," the statement said.
Two ml blood was collected from
calves in EDTA for hematological indices at 0, 15th and 30th days.
The
calves suckled on dams before they were moved to MR, therefore the dry matter intake (DMI) of the
calves remaining with dams could not be calculated precisely, and calculations started at d 71 when the
calves in the 4 groups were weaned off milk totally.
A statement issued here on Monday, the authority said the slaughter of
calves was leading to the decreased number of animals thus, necessitating the ban.
The Ethical Dairy was unveiled at Rainton Farm near Gatehouse with the emphasis of allowing
calves to stay with their mothers to suckle.