PERFORMANCE OF HOLSTEIN MALE AND FEMALE CALVES GROWN UNDER MEDITERRANEAN WINTER CLIMATE CONDITIONS
Yalcin Bozkurt
Suleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, Isparta, Turkey, 32260
yalcinbozkurt@sdu.edu.tr
The aim of the present study was to compare the performance of 12 Holstein female and 11 male calves (23 in total) grown under Mediterranean winter climate conditions. In this experiment, 4‑6 months old animals were used with initial weight of 148 and 123 kg Holstein males and females respectively. The experiment lasted for 4 months and the mean final weights of males and females were 270 and 230 kg; mean total weight gains 121 and 106 kg and finally daily liveweight gains of 1.011 and 0.885 kg, respectively. The differences in final weights, total weight gains and daily liveweight gains between Holstein male and female calves were statistically significant (P<0.05). In conclusion, Holstein male calves performed better than the females of the same breed in indoor production systems grown under the Mediterranean climate conditions.
Keywords: Holstein; indoor breeding; performance; Mediterranean
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