The objectives of the present study were to examine the impact of feeding both probiotics and sodium butyrate on calf performance and the economic implication of each treatment. A completely randomized design was used to investigate body weight (BW) gain, feed conversion efficiency and health conditions of Holstein dairy calves fed either pasteurized waste milk (PWM; n = 9) or a non-medicated milk replacer containing sodium butyrate and active probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (NMR; n = 9) from birth to 60 days of age. Numerically, calves fed PWM consumed more starter feed between days 16 and 45 than calves fed NMR but the difference became smaller by 60 days. Birth weights and colostrum IgG and serum total protein concentrations did not differ (p > 0.05) between the PWM and NMR calves. Calves receiving PWM had slightly greater BW at days 30 and 45, but were similar to that of calves receiving NMR at day 60. No differences were observed between PWM and NMR-calves for BW gains, flank height, hip width and health conditions (p < 0.05). Calves fed NMR had more watery feces but less frequent bouts of coughing than PWM-fed calves. Feed cost was higher (p < 0.001) for PWM-fed calves than NMR-fed calves during the experimental period. Dairy calves receiving NMR fortified with sodium butyrate and Bacillus probiotic could perform as similar as calves receiving PWM, and they had similar economic efficiency during the 60-d study period.
Keywords: Calf; growth performance; milk replacer; probiotics; sodium butyrate.