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A survey of colostrum management practices on UK dairy farms

02 July 2023
20 mins read
Volume 28 · Issue 4

Abstract

An online survey was sent to 248 dairy farms from all four UK nations. The results identified areas to optimise calf health and welfare, with a particular focus on extended colostrum feeding (beyond the first 24 hours of life). Chi squared analysis, Cochran Armitage trend tests and logistic regression were used to investigate biologically plausible associations between variables. Thematic analysis was used to construct and refine thematic maps. There was a significant linear trend between the frequency of blood sampling of calves to monitor serum IgG concentrations and testing of colostrum for IgG concentration (P<0.01). A number of farms (41.53%) pooled colostrum (without pasteurising), which may reduce overall IgG concentration and increase disease transmission risk. Timing of colostrum harvest (within 6 hours of calving) was suboptimal on some (23.39%) farms. Many of the perceived barriers to extended colostrum feeding were human and physical, including tangible commodities such as storage and facilities, labour and procedural issues.

The main pillars of colostrum management are that calves must receive 10–12% of their bodyweight in high quality (>50 g/litre immunoglobulin G (IgG)) colostrum as early as possible after birth (Bush and Staley, 1980; Stott and Fellah, 1983; Morin et al, 1997; Chigerwe et al, 2008; Beam et al, 2009). Inadequate volume (<10% of the calf 's bodyweight), timing (not fed in the first 0–12 hours of life) and quality (<50 g/litre IgG) all reduce absorption of IgG from colostrum into the calf 's blood, which is known as failure of passive transfer or, more accurately, failure to transfer passive immunity. Other colostrum management factors such as poor storage and unhygienic handling also result in failure of passive transfer in calves (Godden et al, 2012; Gelsinger et al, 2015).

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