Immunity

[Putangitangi]

I wonder if anyone could please point me in the direction of some articles on cattle immunity and how it develops? Or tell me what you know!

I know that calves must have colostrum to receive the antibodies their mothers can't transfer before birth but what of those calves which don't, for whatever reason, get any or enough colostrum within their first day? Surely they must over time develop their own immunity to the bugs in their environments? If they're then well-fed and not challenged by illness, how important was that first transfer?

Can you tell I have a highly-valued calf which may very well have missed getting her requirement?

 

[dun]

Yhe lack of colostrum isn;t an automatic death sentence. We just make sure to give them their first shots about 2 weeks after birth. I've been told that if they did happen to get adequate antibodys from the dam that it won;t have any effect. Just make sure to get the booster in a timely manner if 1 is required. If in doubt we hit them with the anti corona/scour stuff as soon after birth as possible.

 

[Putangitangi]

The only diseases we have to worry about are the clostridials and Lepto, fortunately. Oh and we always get a bit of coccidia scours a few weeks in.

This calf was slow to work things out perhaps because she was ejected on day 270; her mother usually cooks 'em until 280. She also looks like she has hypotrichosis, which is a bit of a genetic mystery for me: her mother's a straight-haired grey cow, the sire black Angus. Have to do some record sifting to work out how that can happen.

 

[Ebenezer]

Indirect answer. Lambs sometimes get noticed only after several days old and are almost dead from dehydration and mother dry, dead, gone, dying or something. So you save them by rehydration, tubing, bottle. I searched out the issue of colostrum and the function of bummer ewe lambs if they did not get colostrum. Finally found some research that they functioned properly as ewes and were fully able to transfer good colostrum to their lambs.

Saw a guy using IN on day(s) old dairy calves as soon as they got off of the truck in a feeding operation that specialized in Holstein steers. They got repeated doses over the first several weeks. He had good survival. Must have been Vet recommended.

 

[Margonme]

Clostridial and Leptospira Bacteria, Corona and Rota viruses, Escherichia coli, etc occur here too. The scour organisms, i.e., Corona and Rota viruses and E. Coli are significant neonatal threats.

In the absence or suspicioned absence of having nursed, I administer colostrum in two ways:
1. Replacer
2. Whole colostrum.

A Replacer is far superior to a SUPPLEMENT and the price reflects it. Replacer here is about $50. The whole colostrum is from a dairy.

For Corona and Rota viruses, I use MLV Calf Guard at birth. The Calf Guard is administered to the back of the throat with a needleless syringe.

That is not a response to your question. It does reflect what I do in your circumstances. I have a nice heifer standing ready to sell that I knew did not nurse in the first 24 hours. I used the Replacer and she never got ill.

 

[Koffi Babone]

Cattle have a type of placenta that does not allow for antibody transfer during the pregnancy, hence the necessity of colostrum within the first 24 hrs. The absorption of antibodies starts to drop after 6 hrs and at 24 hrs, the gut no longer allows antibody absorption. The amount of colostrum needed is about 10% of the calf's weight (3-4 L)

If I recall correctly, some maternal antibodies will last up to 6 months. The calf's immune system at birth is not mature enough to provide adequate defense. However, as the maternal antibodies slowly wane over time, the calf's own defenses increase and take over by 6 months of age.

"Ingestion of adequate amounts of quality colostrum as early as possible after birth is important for calf survival and growth. Calves with failure of passive transfer (FPT) are 3–9 times more likely to become sick before weaning, and 5 times more likely to die before weaning than calves with adequate passive transfer."

Passive Transfer
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/manag ... qt=passive immunity in cattle&alt=sh

https://en.wikivet.net/Failure_of_Passive_Transfer

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/manag ... =perinatal management cattle&alt=sh

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/searc ... =perinatal management cattle&start=1

 

[turklilley]

I've had 2 newborn calves that I fed with pasteurized milk from the grocery store as I had nothing else. Both survived. I was lucky. I now keep colostrum in the freezer

 

[SteppedInIt]

I'm feeding an orphan now who had no colostrum. I noticed his naval and joints swelling on day two. I gave him a shot of penicillin. He has only had the milk replacer, the non soy 20% fat as recommended on CT, and seems to be doing good. He is now about a week and a half. Fingers crossed here and good luck with yours.

 

[wbvs58]

They are no different from calves that had normal intake of colostrum with regard to developing their active immune system, they just lack the protection from the initial passive immunity. Active immunity develops as they explore their environment and get exposed to various challenges.

It is a bit like modern day kids reared in a sterile environment seem to come down with more dreaded lurgies than farm kids allowed to play in the dirt.

Ken

 

[regolith]

What I've been told, about clostridia specifically, is that the colostrum provides passive immunity that starts to fade about 3 - 4 weeks, which is why vaccinating really young isn't effective... I vaccinate at around 4 weeks at the earliest.
A lot of dairy farmers put off vaccinating till the whole group is about 4 months old & can get their clostridia, worm drench and lepto all at once.
Just being blunt, they're risking losing their top calves to blackleg, leaving it that late.

I think you can vaccinate your calf any time now for clostridia - ask your vet, there's types that provide immediate protection and the regular vaccine works by stimulating the calf to form its own antibodies, and is slower in action.
Exposure to life will enable the calf to form immunity, right from birth. What your calf lacks is the maternal protection to stressors/infection; getting sick is often a culmination of a whole host of factors in which the infectious agent isn't irrelevant... it's just not the whole story.

 

[jerry27150]

years ago most dairymen would throw out all colostrum & only fed calves milk from other cows that had been milking. calves did fine, so they must have some transferred immunity for a while

 

[Putangitangi]

My thanks to you all for your thoughts, links and experiences.

One day, when I'm not always so busy, I want to sit down and see which of my cows missed out in a similar manner. I know my second-oldest cow certainly had a shaky start, when her mother had an udder full of blood. I can't remember if she was able to get a first feed before things went wrong.

I found an article written by a vet I know, so I'll send her some questions. It looks like most of the research on first feeds is done on dairy calves, whose calf-hood nutrition is rather different from my beef calves on their mothers for six or seven months.