Marine Fat Digestibility of its Fatty Acids in Young Calves

Abstract

This paper describes the results from an experiment with four Jersey calves. The calves were bucket fed with a milk substitute consisting of skimmed milk powder and marine fat, supplemented with soyalecithin, vitamins and minerals. They were slaughtered after 30–32 days of such feeding. During the last two weeks a balance study was performed with a collection period of two days. Hay was given ad lib., and during the balance period the calves took between 125–150 g per day. The lipid content of the hay was considered negligible. Total content and distribution of fatty acids in the milk substitute are shown in Table 1. Table 2 shows the age of the calves, the total intake of lipid and fatty acids, and the total amount of fatty acids excreted with feces. The apparent digestibility coefficients of the individual fatty acids in each trial are shown in Table 3.