Enhancement of farm possibilities of calves‘ colostral immunity control

VÝZKUMNÝ ÚSTAV VETERINÁRNÍHO LÉKAŘSTVÍ, v.v.i., BRNO a VÝZKUMNÝ ÚSTAV ŽIVOČIŠNÉ VÝROBY, v.v.i. V UHŘÍNĚVSI. Enhancement of farm possibilities of calves‘ colostral immunity control. Authors: ŠLOSÁRKOVÁ, Soňa, STANĚK, Stanislav, FLEISCHER, Petr, PECHOVÁ, Alena and NEJEDLÁ, Eliška.. Česká republika. Certifikovaná metodika 978-80-88233-10-7. 2017-11-30.
Year2017
CathegoryMethodologies and software
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Abstract

The methodology, which is intended for dairy cattle breeders, farm personnel and agricultural advisors, aims to extend the knowledge of the current possibilities how to control the amount of colostrum antibodies in calves’ blood serum directly on the farm. Another goal is to introduce these techniques into routine farm practice. The methodology summarizes the findings on the factors affecting colostral immunity (quality and volume of the received colostrum, bacterial contamination, the method and time of administration of colostrum, etc.), explains the problem of failure of passive transfer (FPT, Czech abb. SPPI) and subsequently presents the possibilities of controlling the achieved colostral immunity (blood sampling and serum separation, direct and indirect determination of the immunoglobulin content by both a laboratory and a practical simple refractometer, which can be used directly on farm for this purpose). The next chapter deals in detail with the possibilities of evaluating the results at individual calf or whole herd levels. The proposed routine use of an universal refractometer with Brix scale to control calf immune status is a new approach in the Czech Republic. The economic analysis shows that the implementation of the described method can bring a high positive financial effect. The methodology also contains an illustrative pictorial attachment on how to control the colostrum immunity of calves step by step, including evaluation.