BACKGROUND Bacterial contamination of colostrum is common and can decrease IgG absorption in neonatal calves. Strategies that mitigate this situation without complicating colostrum management will benefit dairy calf health and survival. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effects of supplementing colostrum with oligosaccharides (OS) on serum IgG concentration and apparent efficiency of absorption of I...

Improving cow’s reproductive health during the transition period might be beneficial for the health status of newborn calves. We recently developed an intravaginal probiotic treatment to prevent uterine infections in dairy cows. This study sought to evaluate the effects of probiotic treatment of dairy cows on selected plasma variables and the incidence of diarrhea in newborn calves. Nineteen da...

To prevent encephalomyelitis caused by Akabane virus, as observed in 2006, vaccination of calves is one of the most effective prophylactic measures. For vaccination of calves, the duration of the maternal antibodies need to be considered because these antibodies are an obstacle to the effectiveness of the vaccine. In order to estimate the age of antibody decay in calves and to find factors infl...

The present study was conducted to determine the optimum age of Holstein dairy calves for an effective inclusion of alfalfa hay (AH) in starter feed on performance, apparent digestibility and feeding behavior. A total of 40 Holstein dairy calves (20 female and 20 male) were used in a completely randomized design in which calves were randomly assigned to one of four different dietary treatments ...

Effects of growth rate on fat-soluble vitamin and macro- and micromineral concentrations in the circulation of preruminant dairy calves were evaluated. Dietary treatments were designed to achieve 3 targeted rates of gain [no growth (NG)=0.0 kg/d; low growth (LG)=0.55 kg/d; or high growth (HG)=1.2 kg/d] over a 7-wk period. Milk replacer (MR) intakes necessary to achieve these growth rates were e...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether gamma-irradiated Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts could elicit protective immunity against cryptosporidiosis in dairy calves. Cryptosporidium parvum Iowa strain oocysts (1 x 10(6) per inoculation) were exposed to various levels of gamma irradiation (350-500 Gy) and inoculated into 1-day-old dairy calves. The calves were examined daily for clinica...

J. Anim. Sci. Vol. 88, E-Suppl. 2/J. Dairy Sci. Vol. 93, E-Suppl. 1/Poult. Sci. Vol. 89, E-Suppl. 1 390 Effect of feeding polyphenols from pomegranate extract on health, growth, nutrient digestion, and immunocompetence of calves. M. C. Perdomo*1, R. A. Oliveira1, C. D. Narciso1, R. S. Bisinotto1, M. A. Ballou2, M. Dreher3, and J. E. P. Santos1, 1University of Florida, Gainesville, 2Texas Tech U...

A prospective cohort study was undertaken on two central California dairies, A and B, to estimate prevalence of congenital infection with Neospora caninum, to characterize temporal variation in prevalence, to determine if occurrence of congenital infection was associated with specific dam and calf attributes, and to estimate the effect of congenital infection on calfhood mortality. Of the 405 c...

a 1:1 matched case-control study of calves under 1 month of age was carried out by weekly visits to 7 dairy farms in mashhad from may 2008 to october 2008. fecal samples were collected from a total of 112 calves with clinical signs of diarrhea and from 112 matched animals without clinical signs of diarrhea as assessed by a scoring system. the samples were investigated for the presence of rotavi...