A herd-level study of colostrum management and its association with success of passive transfer in newborn dairy calves
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro20163459Keywords:
passive transfer, dairy cattle, colostrum, feeding, herdAbstract
Many individual animal-level studies have been conducted to investigate the risk factors for success of passive transfer (SPT) in dairy calves. However, a much smaller number of studies are available to identify risk factors for SPT at the herd level. Therefore, the first objective of this study was to describe colostrum management in dairy herds when considering colostrum quality (IgG concentration and bacterial contamination) and feeding (volume and timing). The second objective was to quantify the prevalence of SPT in these herds and to investigate its association with colostrum management at the herd level.