This study investigated the effects of feeding timothy forage to pair-housed Holstein calves on their growth performance. Thirty-two pairs of Holstein heifer calves were randomly assigned to a control group or a treatment group at pairing. The timothy hay group had a trough at the back of the pen with pellets until day 59, then they were transitioned to long-stem timothy hay until study completion on day 70 (7 d post-weaning). Researchers measured calf body weights weekly and starter grain dry matter intake daily. The hay pairs had no performance benefits throughout the study, which concluded at 7 d post-weaning at 75 (± 3 d) of age. Hay feeding was not associated with calf starter dry matter intakes, solid feed efficiency, or average daily gains either. We suggest that pelleted timothy hay feeding during the preweaning phase does not affect performance in pair-housed calves.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.