Short communication: Variation in serum immunoglobulin G concentrations from birth to 112 days of age in Holstein calves fed a commercial colostrum replacer or maternal colostrum

摘要

Serum IgG concentrations in dairy calves changethroughout their first weeks of life, peaking at 24 h andthen steadily decreasing until calves begin to produceendogenous IgG. The objective of this study was toobserve serum IgG dynamics from birth until 16 wkof life in calves fed either maternal colostrum (MC) orcolostrum replacer (CR). A total of 44 Holstein calveswere randomly assigned to 1 of the 4 colostrum treatmentsand followed throughout the study. Treatmentsconsisted of feeding high-quality MC, low-quality MCsupplemented with CR, or 1 of 2 distinct levels ofIgG concentration from CR. Overall, the interactionbetween type of colostrum fed and sampling time wassignificant. Individual differences for this effect werefound at d 1, 7, 14, 21, 28, and 98, while the other timepoints were not different.