Mu'awya Obeidat Dr.

Mohammad Al-Ashram
Yaser alshyiab
Fares Mestarihi
Momen Bani Yaseen
Mohammad Hazaymeh
Introduction
 Colostrum is the first form of milk produced by the
mammary glands of mammals immediately following
delivery of the newborn.
 Colostrum contains antibodies necessary to provide
the calf with protection from diseases.

 Colostrum has lots of energy, protein, vitamins, and

minerals that the calf needs to be healthy.
The amount of colostrum
 Depends on several factors - including the amount of
antibody (Ig) in the colostrum, the body weight of the
calf, the age of the calf at first feeding.
 Calf should receive 5-6% of its body weight at the first
6 hours, and another 5-6% when the calf is 12 hours
old.
 The calf should be fed 150-200g Ig/24h.
Timing of Colostrum Feeding
 Loss of absorptive sites in the intestine
– The intestine lose their ability to absorb the antibodies
after about 24 hours.
– At 6h, efficiency is 66%.
– At 36h, efficiency is 7%.

 Bacterial colonization of the intestine

– This may lead to septicemia, leading to severe

morbidity and mortality.
Estimating colostrum quality

Colostrometer

Refractometer
Colostrometer
 Is a practical field method for the rapid determination
of colostrum quality prior to feeding the newborn calf.
 The Colostrometer is a hydrometer that measures
specific gravity and, using a color-coded scale
calibrated in milligrams per milliliter (mg/mL) of
immunoglobulins (Ig), converts specific gravity to Ig
concentration.
How to use?
 Allow a sample of colostrum to cool
to room temperature.
 Float the Colostrometer in the
colostrum.
 Colostrum that tests :
"green" contains > 50 mg/mL of Ig,
"yellow" contains 20 to 50 mg/mL,
"red" contains < 20 mg/mL of Ig.
Affected by temperature &
composition of the colostrum.
Refractometer
 One method used widely to estimate the degree of passive
transfer in calves.
 The device measures the amount of light that is refracted
(or bent) from the light path due to the constituents in the
sample.
 In blood, proteins will cause light to bend. The greater the
protein, the more light is bent from the light path.
 Instead of measuring serum IgG, the refractometer
measures total serum protein.
How much total protein is required
in my newborn calves?

 >5.5 g/dl: successful passive transfer.

 5.0 to 5.4 g/dl: moderately successful passive transfer.
 <5.0 g/dl: failure of passive transfer.
Factors to consider in determining
the validity of the refractometer:
 The quality of the instrument.
 The age of the animal.
 The types of proteins absorbed.
 Extremely high readings
‐ The calves might be dehydrated.
‐ Check the performance of your refractometer.
 Adding a colostrum supplement to colostrum doesn't
make a big difference in calves total protein readings.
Why?
‐ The colostrum supplement isn't absorbed
‐ There's not enough protein in the supplement
‐ Calves are fed colostrum and supplement too late
‐ The refractometer is not accurate enough to
determine differences
Thank you