The impact of cow nutrition in the dry period on colostrum quality and immune status of calves

Abstract

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of energy contents in a dry period diets in "7+1" feeding strategy of dry cow including 7 weeks of the dry period (far-off) and 1 week of a close-up period, on colostrum quality and the immune status of calves. Forty Holstein multiparous cows were dried at 56d before the expected date of calving and were assigned to the higher energy diet group (HE; 0.69 UFL/kg DM, NDF 52% DM), or the lower energy diet group (LE; 0.61 UFL/1kg DM, NDF 56% DM). From -7d to the expected calving date up to 21 d of lactation, all cows were fed the same fresh, lactation diet. Samples of colostrum were collected within 2h after parturition and its density, dry matter content and concentrations of immunoglobulins, fat, protein, lactose, urea and somatic cell counts were measured. Calves were weighed 2 h after calving and on the 21d of life. On 3d and 21d of calves' life blood samples were collected and the concentration of IgG, IgA, IgM, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) as well as total protein and albumin concentrations were determined. Treatments had no significant effect on composition of colostrum and serum immunoglobulins and IGF-1 concentration. In both groups the weight of calves at birth was similar, still daily body weight gain during 21 day of rearing period in HE group was higher than in the LE group (P=0.05).

Colostrum Management for Dairy Calves

“…Studies have generally reported that Ig content of colostrum is not greatly affected by restricting prepartum maternal nutrition. [51][52][53] Mann and colleagues 54 reported that feeding a controlled energy diet that met, but did not exceed, energy requirements during the dry period increased colostral IgG but did not affect colostrum yield, compared with diets that offered increased energy. Lacetera and colleagues 55 reported that cows supplemented with injections of selenium and vitamin E in late pregnancy produced a greater volume of colostrum than unsupplemented cows, when all cows were fed a prepartum diet that was deficient in vitamin E and selenium.…”

Factors associated with the concentration of immunoglobulin G in the colostrum of dairy cows

“…was higher than that of some previous studies (Pritchett et al, 1991;Baumrucker et al, 2010;Morrill et al, 2012), but similar to that of others. Kehoe et al (2011) It is important to bear in mind that these studies have quantified colostral IgG using different laboratory analysis techniques; some have used radial immunodiffusion (Kehoe et al, 2011;Rivero et al, 2012) while others have used ELISA (Baumrucker et al, 2010;Nowak et al, 2012). Furthermore, differences in sample preparation between studies also exist.…”

“…Similarly, Gulliksen et al (2008) reported that cows calving during the months following the pasture season produced colostrum of higher quality compared with cows calving during other seasons. While some studies to date have shown that IgG concentration of colostrum is not affected by prepartum maternal nutrition, in terms of protein and energy requirements (Blecha et al, 1981;Hough et al, 1990;Nowak et al, 2012), further research is required to elucidate the complex relationship between nutrition and colostrum quality.…”

The Impact of Season, Parity, and Volume of Colostrum on Holstein Dairy Cows Colostrum Composition

“…Stress is also included among the factors that suppress the immune system, which leads to increasing cases of disease. It is well known that the secretion of glucocorticoids due to stress in late pregnancy might be associated with the decreasing ability of the immune system to produce the required antibodies [22] [23] [24]. We hypothesize that one reason for the decreasing level of IgG in the spring and fall seasons is the stressful conditions, including weather conditions and the temperature, in which the cows spent their late pregnancy period.…”

“…The cows in the present experiment, however, did not receive fresh grass. Considering the findings of [16] [21] and [22] that colostrum composition was not affected by prepartum maternal feeding, we did not attempt to determine the relationship between colostrum composition and prepartum feeding factors. In a recent study, [5] found that colostrum from cows calving in the spring (April and May) contained the lowest IgG content whereas the colostrum from those calving in the fall had a high IgG concentration.…”