Table 7.

Categorical milk feeding practices for preweaned dairy calves (n = 2,545) on 104 US operations from March 2014 to September 2015

Variable	Level	Operations1		Heifer calves
		Number	Percent	Number	Percent
Diet type	Milk replacer	40	38.5	885	34.8
	Whole/waste milk	45	43.3	1,020	40.1
	Combination	40	38.5	640	25.1
Milk additives	Acids/preservatives	7	6.7	103	7.9
	Coccidiostats	51	49.0	935	36.7
	Direct-fed microbials	18	17.3	400	15.7
	Fly control	26	25.0	297	11.7
	Antibiotics	15	14.4	352	13.8
	Other additives (e.g., minerals, vitamins)	22	21.2	338	13.3
	Any	68	65.4	1,302	51.2
	None	36	34.6	1,243	48.8
Pasteurization (excluding milk replacer)	Yes	31	36.5	737	44.4
	No	54	63.5	923	55.6
Evaluation of bacterial counts (excluding milk replacer)	Yes	18	21.2	301	18.1
	No	67	78.8	1,359	81.9
Method of feeding	Bottle	39	37.5	657	25.8
	Bucket or pail	17	16.3	362	14.2
	Milk bar	5	4.8	71	2.8
	Robotic	3	2.9	49	1.9
	Bottle and bucket	58	55.8	1,240	48.7
	Other combinations	12	11.5	166	6.5
Average frequency of liquid diet feedings per day	1 feeding per day	12	11.5	43	1.7
	2 feedings per day	91	87.5	2,019	79.3
	3 feedings per day	16	15.4	265	10.4
	Ad libitum or robotic feeding	12	11.5	218	8.6

¹Operation percentages were calculated by dividing the variable level by the total number of operations reported for each variable. Operations may have had calves in more than one variable level; therefore, the sum of a variable might not always equal 100%.