CALVES ▶▶▶
calves had a deficiency of immunoglobulins in the blood. Only 41% of the calves showed an adequate concentration of antibodies in the blood (>10 mg IgG/ml blood serum). Immu- noglobulins contained in hen eggs (IgY) can partly compen- sate for poor colostrum quality and serve as a care package for young animals. A trial was conducted with an egg powder product* on a dairy farm (800 cows) in Brandenburg, Germa- ny. In total 39 newborn calves were observed until weaning (65th
day of life). Before birth, the calves were already divided
into control and trial group according to the lactation num- ber of their mother cow. All calves were fed the same and re- ceived four litres of colostrum with ≥ 50 mg IgG/ml on the first day of life. Control (n=20): no additional supplementa- tion and the trial group (n=19): day 1 – 5: 100 g of the egg powder product per animal per day mixed into the colostrum or milk. It was shown that the calves in the trial group showed a significantly higher (13%) weaning weight (105.74 kg compared to 93.45 kg in the control group) and 18% high- er average daily gain (999 g compared to 848 g in the control group) (Figure 1 and Figure 2).
Support during acute diarrhoea When diarrhoea occurs, the calf has to be treated. So the sec- ond approach is to find the best and quickest solution. It is not always necessary to use antibiotics, as they do not work against virus or protozoa. Egg antibodies can be an answer when combined with electrolytes as the following trial shows. On a dairy farm (550 cows) in Germany a feeding trial with a product** based on egg powder and electrolytes was con- ducted from December 2017 to May 2018. Two groups of calves were used. Before birth the animals were allocated into the two groups according to the calving plan and were exam- ined from day one until weaning (77th
day of life). All calves
suffering from diarrhoea (38 in total, 17 in the control and 21 in the trial group) were treated as follows: Control (n=17): Ap- plication of electrolytes and trial group (n=21) received 50 g of the egg powder and electrolytes product twice daily, stirred into the milk replacer until diarrhoea stopped. If the diarrhoea did not stop or even got worse, the animals were treated with antibiotics. It was shown that in the control group the antibi- otic treatment necessary was nearly twice as long as needed in the trial group (Figure 3). This means also that nearly twice the amount of antibiotics were used. This leads to the conclu- sion that calves in the trial group had an improved health sta- tus compared to calves in the control group. A further result from the improved health status was an increase in perfor- mance in the trial group (Figure 4). The average daily weight gain of the trial group was 20% higher than in the control (600 vs. 500 g per day) leading to a significantly higher weaning weight (87.8 kg) than in the control (80.7 kg).
*Globigen Colostrum, **Globigen Dia Stop (EW Nutrition, Germany). 12
Figure 2 - Effect of an egg powder product on ADG (g).
750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050
*p≤0.001
Figure 3 - Duration of antibiotic application (days).
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
0.0 Globigen Dia Stop Control Figure 4 - Effect on average daily gain (g).
440 460 480 500 520 540 560 580 600 620
*p≤0.001 * 600 3.8 Control Globigen* Colostrum * 999 (+17.8 %)
848
2
500
Globigen Dia Stop
Control
▶DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 5, No. 4, 2018
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