Passive transfer of immunity in kid goats fed refrigerated and frozen goat colostrum and commercial sheep colostrum

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of refrigerated and frozen goat colostrum and commercial sheep colostrum in kids. Forty-five Canary Caprine Group kids were distributed in three groups (n = 15) according to the type of colostrum fed. The refrigerated and frozen colostrum were administered twice daily for 2 days, each kid receiving5%of the body weight per feed. Both the refrigerated and frozen colostrum had the same IgG concentration before refrigerating or freezing. The commercial colostrum was administered according to the recommendations of the manufacturer. Blood samples were obtained from the kids (by jugular extraction) every 12 h from birth to the third day post-partum and two additional samples were taken at 15 and 30 days of life. The IgG concentration in the blood was measured by radial immunodifusion on agarose gel. At birth the kids were agammaglobulinemic. The peak IgG was at 24 h with frozen goat colostrum fed kids (25.47 ± 19.89 mg/ml), 36 h for kids fed with refrigerated goat colostrum (15.84 ± 5.91 mg/ml) while those fed commercial sheep colostrum peaked at 30 days (0.84 ± 0.65 mg/ml). The birth weight is of great significance with regard to these results. In conclusion, kids fed only with commercial colostrum do not acquire the necessary immunity to protect them during the first month of life. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved