COMPARISON OF PERFORMANCE OF YOUNG CALVES IN SEVERAL HOUSING SYSTEMS IN THE WINTER OF COLD REGIONS

A total of thirty male Holstein calves were reared outdoors with simple housings or in warmed pens in three experiments conducted in three consecutive midwinters in Hokkaido. Average outdoor air temperatures during the experiments were between -5.3 and $-6.1^{\circ}C$, and average minimum air temperatures were between -9.7 and $-10.6^{\circ}C$. The age of calves at the start of the experiments were $16{\pm}6$ hours. There was no difference in the liquid feed intake, while the solid concentrate (artificial milk) intake by the calves in the simple housing systems (outdoors, calf hutch and open shed) tended to be higher than those in the warmed pen. No significant differences in the daily gain or the monthly development of wither height were observed among housing systems. There were no serious cases of diarrhea. However, coughing was observed in several of the calves reared in the poorly ventilated warmed pens.