A 100-Year Review: Calf nutrition and management

The first calf paper, published in the May 1919 issue of the Journal of Dairy Science (JDS), described factors affecting birth body weight of different breeds of calves. Other studies were done on nonmilk ingredients, growth charts were developed, and early weaning was followed to conserve milk fed to calves. Calf papers did not report use of statistics to control or record variation or to determine whether treatment means were different. Many experiments were more observational than comparative. Typically fewer than 5 calves, and sometimes 1 or 2 calves, were used per treatment. During the next 20 yr, calf studies increased and included colostrum feeding, milk and milk replacer feeding, minerals and vitamins, and fats and oils. Many concepts fundamental to current knowledge and understanding of digestion, rumen development, and milk replacer formulation were developed during this period. In addition, the concept of using antibiotic growth promoters in dairy calf diets was first evaluated and developed during the 1950s. During the 20-yr period of January 1957 through December 1976, a large number of universities in the United States and 1 in Canada contributed almost 150 papers on a variety of calf-related topics. These topics included genetics, physiology of the calf, review of calf immunity, antibiotic feeding, and milk replacer ingredients. This became the golden era of calf rumen development studies, which also engendered studies of calf starter rations and ingredients. A classic review of management, feeding, and housing studies summarized research related to calf feeding and management systems up to that point with an emphasis on maintaining calf growth and health while reducing labor and feed costs. It was also during this period that metric measurements replaced English units. In the 20-yr period from 1977 to 1996, more than 400 articles on calf nutrition and management were published in JDS. With the growing research interest in calves, a paper outlining standardized procedures for conducting and reporting data from calf experiments was first published. A very active area of calf nutrition research from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s was colostrum quality, feeding, and preservation; more than 60 such research articles were published in the journal during this time. Various nonmilk protein sources were evaluated. Extensive studies were done evaluating trace and major mineral requirements in calves along with some vitamin studies. Throughout the 19