Immunological quality of colostrum in Czech dairy herds

STANĚK, Stanislav, ŠLOSÁRKOVÁ, Soňa, PECHOVÁ, A, FLEISCHER, Petr, FALDYNA, M and NEJEDLÁ, Eliška. Immunological quality of colostrum in Czech dairy herds. Náš chov, 2017, vol. 77(9), p. 76-78. ISSN 0027-8068.
Year2017
CathegoryPublication in specialized journals
Internal link17129.pdf
Abstract

Within the scope of a research project, that aims to improve the management of colostrum nutrition, the quality of colostrum in the Czech Republic have been evaluated using laboratory method of radial immunodiffusion (RID) for direct determination of immunoglobulin (IgG) content. Altogether, 1381 colostrum samples obtained from the first milking after calving in 38 dairy herds in the Czech Republic have been evaluated. Our results show, that 22.8% of all samples tested have inadequate quality (IgG 50 g/l. When the effect of breed on the colostrum quality was evaluated, the IgG content was higher in the colostrum of Holstein cows (median 80.3 g/l) versus the Czech Fleckvieh breed (median 74.4 g/l). When testing other effects, a significantly higher IgG content was proved in the colostrum from cows that were milked within 4 hours after calving (median 82.7 g/l) and also in those cows with the colostrum-obtain volume up to 8 liters (median 80.3 g/l). Our study shows, that the assessing of the colostrum quality before it is fed to calves is highly needed, especially if the producer wants to eliminate the risks associated with insufficient passive immunity of the calves.