Blood biochemical values in Japanese Black calves in Kagoshima Prefecture,Japan

To obtain blood biochemical basic data of Japanese Black calves in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, blood sampleswere obtained from 582 clinically healthy calves on 27 farms. Calves were divided into three stages: thesuckling stage (between 14 and 90 days of age, n=191), the early growing stage (between 91 and 180 days ofage, n=200) and the late growing stage (between 181 and 270 days of age, n=191). The mean concentration oftotal cholesterol, triglyceride, nonesterified fatty acids, calcium and zinc, and the mean activities ofγ-glutamyltransferase and alkaine phospatase in the suckling stage were significantly higher than those in theearly and late growing stages (P<0.01). The mean concentration of total protein, albuminand globulin increased gradually with growing. The mean concentration of beta-hydroxybutyrate in the sucklingstage was below 150 µmol/l, however, it elevated above 400µmol/l in the early and late growing stages. The mean concentration ofcopper concentration was above 70 µg/dl in all stages. The meanconcentration of zinc was between 90 and 110 µg/dl in all stages. Theseresults suggest that the blood biochemical values of Japanese Black calves vary with growing stages, and theblood parameters obtained in this study are considered useful as indices for health management of JapaneseBlack calves.