Wednesday, April 25, 2018

More Evidence on Tube vs. Bottle feeding of Colostrum

Work of a Canadian group focused on movement of colostrum through the G-I tract when feeding 3L of colostrum. They compared outcomes when colostrum was fed with a nursing bottle or an esophageal tube feeder.

The outcomes are summarized:

" Therefore, even if colostrum enters the rumen when fed with an esophageal tube, when a large enough volume of good quality colostrum is delivered, the IgG in the colostrum that reaches the small intestine could be sufficient to saturate the receptors and meet maximal absorption of IgG." page 4173.

As a by-product of their work the results emphasized that early feeding of high quality colostrum in adequate quantity can result in very desirable levels of antibody transfer. Compared to the "usual" levels of efficiency of antibody transfer (around 35%), these calves had 50% efficiency of antibody transfer.


Desjardins-Morrissette, M. and Others, "The effect of tube versus bottle feeding colostrum on immunoglobulin G absorption, abomasal emptying, and plasma hormone concentrations in newborn calves" Journal of Dairy Science 101:4168-4179 May 2018.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Calf Notes - A Site to Bookmark

The site URL is www.calfnotes.com.

Dr. Jim Quigley has been adding CalfNotes to this site for 23 years - lots of resources. Available in English, Spanish, Chinese and now he is adding notes in Portuguese.

The CalfNotes are grouped like this:
  • colostrum feeding
  • milk & milk replacers
  • calf starters
  • health management
  • weaning
  • housing
  • older heifers
  • primer in calf nutrition
  • entire list of 200 CalfNotes in numeric order
Enjoy!



Thursday, April 5, 2018

Colostrum Council Post on Oligosaccharides in Colostrum

In their April 5 post the Colostrum Council [proprietary newsletter of Saskatoon Colostrum Company, Ltd.] Amanda Fischer
  • describes the naturally occurring oligosaccharides in colostrum
  • explains their role in gut health
  • describes the role of mannan-oligosaccharides in gut health and
  • cautions us about adding mannan-oligosaccharides to colostrum
Well-written review of technical content that also does a good job of explaining why feeding transition milk (2,3, 4th milking) promotes good gut health.

The post is at this URL if you want to copy it to your browser:

https://i.emlfiles4.com/cmpdoc/6/9/7/7/2/1/files/50236_the-colostrum-counsel---mar-2018.pdf?utm_campaign=1147644_March%202018%20Colostrum%20Counsel&utm_medium=email&utm_source=AltaGenetics&dm_i=2QLW,OLJ0,3XQH7V,2IOWM,1

or try clicking HERE 

Calfcare.ca

Have you visited this site? http://calfcare.ca/ is the URL or click HERE.

The drop down menus include:
  • Newborn care
  • Colostrum management
  • Feeding
  • Housing
Recent posts?
  • Neonatal calf diarrhea
  • Conditions for Management Group Housed Calves
  • Is bloat causing sudden death in  your calves?
  • Is your colostrum management working? (tips for using refractometers)
Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Late Winter-Spring Scours in Calves

This is the title of April 2018 calf management newsletter. Click HERE to go to the newsletter. Enjoy.

The main points:
·        Wide variation among dairies during late winter – spring season for scours treatment rates among preweaned calves.
·        How can management affect scours treatment rates?
·        What is the right scours treatment rate among preweaned calves for my dairy?



If you know of a person that would like to receive a monthly e-mail when the new issue is posted on-line send an e-mail to smleadley@yahoo.com to be added to this service. If a dairy wants to receive a hard copy to share with calf care folks send the mailing address to the same e-mail address.