Content
Colostral immunity in calves is often called innate immunity. This is wrong. In newborns, immunity is completely absent and is developed only after 36-48 hours. It would be more correct to call it maternal, since the cubs receive protection from infections from the cow. Although not immediately in the womb.
What is colostral immunity in animals
This is the name given to the body’s protection against infections, which babies receive from their mother’s colostrum. Calves are born sterile. They can receive antibodies that protect them from diseases in the postnatal period only on the first day of life. The secretion released from the udder in the first 7-10 days is very different from the “mature” milk that a person drinks. In the first days, the cow produces a thicker yellow substance. This liquid is called colostrum. It contains a lot of protein and immunoglobulins, but there is almost no fat and sugar.
This is the main reason why the calf must nurse for the first 6 hours. And the sooner the better. After only 4 hours, the calf will receive 25% fewer antibodies than immediately after birth. If for some reason a newborn cannot be fed natural colostrum, he will not develop colostral resistance.You can make an artificial substitute with a full range of amino acids, fats and carbohydrates. But such an artificial product does not contain antibodies and does not help develop protection.
You can hand-feed young animals from the first minutes of their life, but the product consumed by the cub must be natural
How is colostral immunity formed?
The calf is protected from infections by the mother's immunoglobulins in the colostrum. Once in the stomach, they penetrate into the blood unchanged. This happens during the first 1-1.5 days of life. Afterwards, the calf is not able to form colostral resistance to diseases.
The formation of a protective system depends on the acid-base state (ABS) of the blood of calves. And this is determined by metabolic changes during the intrauterine period and the maternal CBS. In calves with reduced viability, colostral immunity is practically absent, since immunoglobulins poorly penetrate from the underdeveloped gastrointestinal tract into the blood.
For the correct formation of “innate” immunity, the calf must receive colostrum in the amount of 5-12% of body weight during the first hour, or preferably 30 minutes, of life. The quantity of the soldered portion depends on the quality of the product and its saturation with immunoglobulins. On average, it is recommended to feed 8-10% of body weight, that is, 3-4 liters. The second time colostrum is drunk at 10-12 hours of life. This is the case if the baby is taken away immediately after birth.
This method of feeding calves is practiced on large farms, where it is possible to create reserves from cows with strong immunity.Storage is carried out in a freezer at a temperature of - 5 ° C. Typically 5 liter containers are used. Because of this, the defrosting mode is often disrupted.
When defrosting correctly, the container is immersed in warm water at a temperature of 45 °C. But since the volume is large and it is impossible to defrost everything at once, the amount of immunoglobulins in colostrum decreases. This negatively affects the formation of colostral resistance of young animals to diseases.
The optimal option to protect the calf, ideal for small farms and private cow owners. The newborn is left under the mother. At the same time, he is taught to receive food from the nipple. Later, the calf will still have to drink milk from the bucket.
There is only one disadvantage of this method of forming colostral immunity: the uterus may have low body resistance. Poor quality colostrum can be:
- in first-calf heifers under 2 years of age;
- in a cow that received an unbalanced diet and lived in poor conditions.
In the second case, it does not matter which cow the calf will receive its first portion from. The immune system will be weak.
The highest resistance of the body to diseases will be in young animals left under the uterus; this is a common practice when raising beef cattle breeds
If possible, a newborn should drink colostrum from adult, fully developed cows. First-calf heifers usually do not have a sufficient amount of immunoglobulins in the blood, and the formation of colostral immunity depends on them.
How to increase colostral immunity in calves
Strictly speaking, it cannot be increased in calves.But you can improve the quality of colostrum and expand protective functions. The amount of immunoglobulins decreases under certain conditions:
- failure to comply with vaccination deadlines;
- unbalanced diet during the dry period;
- spontaneous leakage of colostrum from the nipples before calving;
- The first heifer is less than 2 years old;
- violation of the defrosting mode;
- neglect of diagnosing mastitis in cows immediately after calving;
- unsanitary containers in which cows are milked and from which calves are fed, including the repeated use of disposable water bottles.
The range of diseases from which the calf will be protected by colostral immunity can be “expanded” by timely vaccination of the uterus. If there are antibodies to any disease in the cow's blood, these immunoglobulins will be transferred to the calf.
Stressful situations for newborns include:
- heat;
- too much cold;
- poor living conditions.
Creating comfortable conditions for calves will increase colostral resistance.
There is also a way to “artificially” form colostral immunity. Pregnant uteruses are given an inactivated vaccine twice, with an interval of 3 days. The first time a cow is vaccinated 21 days before the expected calving, the second time 17 days.
If maternal colostrum is not enough to form strong immunity, another method is used: the administration of immune serums. The calf develops passive immunity within a few hours. But the duration of action of the serum is only 10-14 days.If the young animals have not developed colostral resistance, the serum will have to be repeated every 10 days.
Conclusion
Colostral immunity in calves is formed only on the first day of life. At later stages, the uterus still secretes immunoglobulins, but the young are no longer able to absorb them. Therefore, it is very important to either have a supply of colostrum in the freezer, or leave newborns under the cow.
