Oxygen Consumption in Heifers Three Months of Age Related to Lactation Milk Energy

Calibration techniques were developed for a modified commercial oxygen consumption computer. Oxygen consumption over 5min by 130 3-mo-old dairy calves was measured 3h after feeding. Subsequently, Estimated Transmitting Abilities were used to calculate the production potential for lactation milk energy (kcal/305-day lactation) for 88 of the animals. Correlations between lactation milk energy and oxygen consumption or oxygen consumption corrected for weight of calf were calculated by breed. Breed correlations were tested for homogeneity and pooled. The correlation coefficient between oxygen consumption and lactation milk energy was .20 with a 95% confidence interval of -.02 to .40.