Use of Restricted Nursing and a Bovine Appeasing Substance on the Welfare, Growth Performance, and Response to Vaccination of Beef Calves at Weaning

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the effects of restricted nursing (RN) and the administration of a bovine appeasing substance (BAS) given 8 days before (d‐8) and on the day of weaning (d0) as a strategy to mitigate stress and optimize the post‐weaning growth performance of beef calves, with emphasis on behavior and response to vaccination. Forty male Nelore calves were randomly assigned to four treatments with ten replicates: control (CON)—topical administration of 5 mL of saline solution on d0; BAS‐8—topical administration of 5 mL of BAS on d‐8; BAS0—topical administration of 5 mL of BAS on d0; and RN—calves allowed to nurse only one hour/day from d‐8 to d0. Calves in the CON treatment group showed lower average daily gain compared to the other treatments ( p < 0.05). There was a trend ( p = 0.09) for BAS‐8 and BAS0 to result in lower temperament scores when calves entered the restraint chute. BAS0 calves had greater ( p = 0.05) serum titer concentrations against rabies compared to the other treatments. The RN and BAS administration eight days before and on the day of weaning was effective in improving growth performance in beef calves.