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Study Title: Evaluation of 2 different treatment procedures after calving to improve harvesting of high-quantity and high-quality colostrum

Authors: Sutter, Borchardt, Schuenemann, Rauch, Erhard, Heuwieser

Objective: Evaluate 2 different treatment procedures at the first milking after calving to increase colostrum quantity and to improve colostrum quality in dairy cows.

Hypothesis: That either exogenous treatment with oxytocin or the presence of the calf at first milking would lead to higher colostrum quantity and higher IgG concentration.

Location: The study was conducted from October to December 2017 on a commercial dairy farm in Germany.

Methods: A total of 567 cows at the time of calving were enrolled, but for the final analyses only 521 animals were considered. The cows were randomly assigned on a daily basis into 1 of 3 groups: (1) control group (n = 177), (2) application of 20 IU of oxytocin i.m. (OXY; n = 163), and (3) presence of the calf (CA; n = 181) before and during milking. Cows in the control and oxytocin group had no contact with their calves after calving and were milked in a separate milking parlor. Cows in the oxytocin group were injected with 20 IU of oxytocin i.m. 3 min before manual stimulation. For cows in the third group, the calf was placed into a calf cart and located in front of the cow 3 min before manipulation of the cow. Colostrum quantity was determined by a digital hanging scale. The colostrum quality was assessed with digital Brix refractometry and ELISA. To evaluate the effect of 2 different treatment procedures, a generalized linear mixed model was constructed using SPSS (SPSS Inc., IBM, Ehningen, Germany).

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