Effect of excess iron in milk replacer on calf performance

Milk replacers containing 100, 500, 1000, 2000, or 5000 ppm iron were fed to 3-d-old calves for 6 wk to estimate the lowest amount of dietary iron (added as ferrous sulfate) that would reduce calf performance. Calves tolerated all iron treatments except 5000 ppm. At this intake calves showed reduced weight gains, DM intake, feed efficiency, and digestibility of DM and protein. There were no other signs of iron toxicity and no gross abnormalities were found on postmortem examination. Percent of dietary iron in feces increased with higher dietary iron and ranged from 65 to 84%. Elevated iron intakes caused relatively small increases in iron concentration of blood plasma, bile, kidney, heart, and muscle but marked increased in spleen and liver iron, particularly in liver for the 2000 and 5000 ppm treatments. At 100 ppm iron intake, nonheme iron in liver, spleen, and kidney was composed of similar proportions of ferritin and hemosiderin, but at 5000 ppm iron intake, hemosiderin predominated in these tissues. Thus, the preruminant calf tolerated between 2000 and 5000 ppm iron in milk replacer. At toxic iron intake, calf performance and feed efficiency were reduced; there was a characteristic change to higher liver than spleen iron; and hemosiderin became the predominant iron storage compound in both tissues.