Growth, body composition and energy utilisation in pre-ruminant goat kids - Effect of dry matter concentration in the milk replacer and animal age

An experiment was carried out with goat kids of the Granadina breed to analyse the effect of DM concentration in the milk replacer (MR) and animal age on growth, feed intake, composition of various body parts and energy utilisation. The kids were fed to satiety from birth to 20 or 40 days of age an MR with either 120 or 200 g/kg DM. From the results it was concluded, that in the pre-ruminant goat kid the provision of an MR with a low solids concentration (120 g/kg DM) imposed during the first 20 days of life a nutritional restriction, which was overcome at the age of 40 days. The ensuing compensatory growth reflected higher feed intake and a better utilisation of the MR, which was related to a reduction in energy requirements for maintenance. The ME requirement for maintenance for kids on the 120 g DM MR was found to be 573 kJ/BW kg(0.75)/day during the first period until 20 days of age compared to 418 kJ/BW kg(0.75)/day during the second period until 40 days of age, while the ME values for the goat kids on the 200 g DM MR were 552 and 580 kJ/BW kg (0.75)/day, respectively. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.