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Concentrations of glucose, albumin, inorganic phosphate and sodium in the blood of beef calves at 2 ½ months of age and their relationships with subsequent weight gain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

G. J. Rowlands
G. J. Rowlands
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Council, Institute for Research on Animal Diseases, Compton, Newbury, Berkshire
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Summary

Blood samples were taken at 9, 10 and 11 weeks of age from 230 male Hereford × Friesian calves, the progeny of 12 Hereford bulls. Concentrations of blood glucose, serum albumin, inorganic phosphate and sodium were measured and correlated with body weights and growth rates until slaughter at 19½ months of age.

Correlations between growth rates and glucose concentrations (0·44) and between growth rates and albumin concentrations (0·38) were observed until 4 months of age. Similar correlations between body weights and blood glucose or albumin concentrations persisted until 6 months of age. By 10 months, however, the correlations had begun to decline, and by slaughter they had become insignificant.

Correlations between growth rates and inorganic phosphate or sodium concentrations were smaller, and also decreased with age.

The effect of hypoglycaemia on growth rate was compared with the effect of enzootic pneumonia. Although the 10% of calves with the lowest glucose concentrations were growing 24% more slowly than the other calves at the time of sampling, this growth depression was not related to pneumonia, and they subsequently made up for most of the early loss of growth.

Three blood samples were also taken from 22 Hereford bulls. No significant correlations were observed between the blood composition of the bulls and the body weights or weight gains of their progeny.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 94 , Issue 1 , February 1980 , pp. 95 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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