[Hemoglobin level and lactate concentration in calves kept under extensive and intensive husbandry conditions]

The influence of different housing systems on hemoglobin content and lactate concentration in the blood of 42 calves in a suckler cow herd of the breeds Deutsche Schwarzbunte and Deutsche Rotbunte, and 34 male veal calves of the breeds Deutsche Schwarzbunte and Holstein-Friesian was examined in a period from the first to the fifth month of life. The results are the follows: In calves of the suckler cow herd the hemoglobin content increases continuously, whereas the hemoglobin peak in veal calves is in the second month of life. Divergent values in favour of calves in the suckler cow herd are indicated from the twelfth week of life. In comparison of hemoglobin content with an earlier investigation in calves from the same suckler cow herd an annual rhythm can be assumed. In blood lactate, significant differences between the experimental groups are determined from the second month of life with the higher values in veal calves, except the third month with higher values in suckling calves. The results are discussed in connection with feeding milk replacer as on feed ration or a whole milk/milk replacer mixture in veal calves, and compared with the conditions of extensive farming animals in a suckler cow herd.