Performance and sanitary aspects of female dairy calves fed on a diet with or without homeopathic medicines

The objective of this study was to evaluate the development of the body, the dry matter intake (DMI), feed conversion (FC) and some sanitary aspects of 12 female dairy calves which were fed with or without the use of homeopathic medicines, from birth to 120 days of age. Newborn crossbred heifers (3/4 Holstein x 1/4 Gyr) with live weight of 35.71 kg were distributed in a completely randomized design, with six replicates per treatment. During weaning (0 - 56 days old), the treatments consisted of milk, being 2 liters in the morning and 2 liters in the afternoon, with or without the addition of homeopathic medicines (5 g/animal/day FACTORS PRO(r), STRESS(r) and C&MC(r)) and concentrate ad libitum. In the postweaning period (57 - 120 days old), the animals received the same concentrate, added or not with the same homeopathic medicines limiting the intake in 3 kg/animal/day. The addition of homeopathic medicines to the diet did not affect (p > 0.05) body development, DMI or FC in dairy calves. A reduction in allopathic drugs to control diarrhea and tick infestation was observed in animals that received homeopathic products. It was concluded that the use of homeopathic medicines did not affect body development, and reduced the number of animals treated with allopathic medicines.