Wednesday, April 25, 2018

More Evidence on Tube vs. Bottle feeding of Colostrum

Work of a Canadian group focused on movement of colostrum through the G-I tract when feeding 3L of colostrum. They compared outcomes when colostrum was fed with a nursing bottle or an esophageal tube feeder.

The outcomes are summarized:

" Therefore, even if colostrum enters the rumen when fed with an esophageal tube, when a large enough volume of good quality colostrum is delivered, the IgG in the colostrum that reaches the small intestine could be sufficient to saturate the receptors and meet maximal absorption of IgG." page 4173.

As a by-product of their work the results emphasized that early feeding of high quality colostrum in adequate quantity can result in very desirable levels of antibody transfer. Compared to the "usual" levels of efficiency of antibody transfer (around 35%), these calves had 50% efficiency of antibody transfer.


Desjardins-Morrissette, M. and Others, "The effect of tube versus bottle feeding colostrum on immunoglobulin G absorption, abomasal emptying, and plasma hormone concentrations in newborn calves" Journal of Dairy Science 101:4168-4179 May 2018.

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