The objective of this study was to evaluate the passive transfer (PT), health and performance of calves fed differing volumes of a colostrum replacer and/or maternal colostrum. Newborn calves were colostrum fed within 2 h of birth as follows:1) 2 L (192.78 ± 11.55 g of IgG) of maternal colostrum (2MC); 2) 4 L of maternal (387.69 ± 12.10 g of IgG ) colostrum (4MC); 3) 2 L (196.16 ± 11.48 g of IgG) of maternal colostrum + one package (100 g IgG in 1.4 L) of colostrum replacer (2MC1CR); 4) 2 packages of colostrum replacer (2CR) and 5) 2 packages of colostrum replacer given within 2 h following birth + one package of colostrum replacer given between 6 and 8 h after birth (3CR). Calves were individually housed and following colostrum feeding(s), were fed 6 L/d of milk replacer with ad libitum access to water and calf starter. Passive transfer as assessed by serum immunoglobulin (Ig) levels were high (mean values of 21.8–25.9 g IgG/L) and did not differ signficantly among groups (P > 0.05). Calves fed larger volumes of colostrum and thus greater Ig mass had lower apparent efficiency absorption (P < 0.0001). There was no difference among colostrum feeding protocols in health parameter outcomes, including fecal score, days with diarrhea, days with fever, number of treatments for diarrhea and number of treatments for pneumonia (P > 0.05). However, the number of treatments for cattle tick fever differed among groups (P = 0.0042). The mean weight and ADG, as well as the blood parameters including total protein, albumin, glucose, BHBA, NEFA and insulin levels, evaluated during the pre-weaning period, did not differ among the groups (P > 0.05). While group numbers were modest (10 calves/treatment), this study shows that all protocols used can deliver high levels of passive transfer suggesting that either good quality maternal colostrum and/or the colostrum replacer evaluated may be recommended for newborn calf colostrum management.

这项研究的目的是评估饲喂不同体积的初乳替代品和/或母体初乳的犊牛的被动转移（PT），健康状况和性能。新生牛犊在出生后2小时内按以下方式进行初乳喂养：1）2 L（192.78±11.55 g IgG）母体初乳（2MC）；2）4 L母体（387.69±12.10 g IgG）初乳（4MC）; 3）2升母乳初乳（196.16±11.48 g IgG）+一包初乳替代品（2MC1CR）（1.4 g中100 g IgG）；4）2包初乳代用品（2CR）和5）2包初乳代用品在出生后2小时内给予+ 1包初乳代用品在出生后6至8小时之间给予（3CR）。将小牛单独饲养，并在初乳喂养后，饲喂6升/天的代乳品，并随意取水和小牛起子。P > 0.05）。犊牛饲喂较大体积的初乳，因此较大的Ig量具有较低的表观效率吸收（P <0.0001）。初乳喂养方案之间的健康参数结局无差异，包括粪便评分，腹泻天数，发烧天数，腹泻治疗次数和肺炎治疗次数（P > 0.05）。但是，各组之间牛tick热的治疗方法不同（P  = 0.0042）。断奶前评估的平均体重和平均日增重以及血液参数（包括总蛋白，白蛋白，葡萄糖，BHBA，NEFA和胰岛素水平）在各组之间没有差异（P> 0.05）。尽管组数不大（每头牛犊10只），但这项研究表明，所用的所有方案均可提供高水平的被动转移，这表明，对于初生犊牛初乳的管理，建议采用优质母体初乳和/或评估的初乳替代品。