Lecture –10.

Udder oedema. This condition developed in cattle pre calving and post calving.It is
characterized by excessive excessive accumulation of lymphatic fluid in interstial space.It is
acute in high producing cows but more severe in first calving heifers.

Visable accumulation space/site include( 1) udder( 2) space between udder and navel (3) brisket
region and (4) in some cases valve. It may inter fere with milk production ,milk letdown and
machine attachment during milking. The teat tend strutoutward so that milking can be more
difficult. There may be physical damage such as crackinh of skin of udder ,teat and harm the
suspensory ligament leading to broken udder.Sevre mammary enlargement makes walking and
lying difficult and causes discomfort to the animal.

Causes of oedema

The exact cause of udder oedema is not known . Following factors are considered the possible
causes.

(1) Genetic or inheritance (2) Ciculatory disturbanc (3) Diet .

Genetic factor play a role because some dairy animals tend to have oedema annually
regadless of feeding programme.Long dry period and older age at first calving may the
incidence of udder oedema.Terefore some authers claim that there is no clear
relationship between concentrate intake dietary protein content and the incidence of
udder oedema.
Accoding to other researchers that it is common belief that feedng grains and cotton
seed cack to cows in excess quantity during dry period or last trimester of pregnancy
causes udder oedeme.
The other common belief is that udder oedema caused by practice of salt
supplementation with concentrate/grain during closeup period to the cows.
It has been proved that supplementation of diet with either an excess of 135 gm Nacl or
272 gmKHCO3 resulted in significantly severe oedeme in first calf heifer than in control
animals.
Control and prevention.
1) Avoid feeding of excessive salt feeding during close up period.
2) Avoid feeding of excessive concentrate feeding ( grain and cotton seed cack) during
closeup period to the cows.
3) Provision of moderate exercise to cows during close up period.
Treatment.
(1) The first managmental protocol for the treatment of udder oedema is washing of
udder with warm water in cold season and with cold water in summer/hot season.
(2) In severe case start milking of cow before calving and froze the colostrum for
later use to newly born calf.
(3) Adminstered injection Lasix 5-7 ml I.M.

Lecture –11.
Colostrum feeding to newly born calves.
Colostrum is defined as the secretion from mammary gland of mammals during the first
few days after parturition.
Secretion from the udder of dairy animal for one day afte freshing/ calving are
commonly called Colostrum .OR the first six milking from fresh dairy animals are
considered Colostrum for milk marketing purpose and should not be sold. Howere the
most important colostrum for newly born calf is first milking.
Transion milk. Secretion produced from the udder on second and third day postpartum
of dairy animals.Transition from colostrum to milk is very rapid process with dramatic
changes in composition the firs few hours postpartum.
Total solid and protein content of colostrum is about 23.9% and 14% as compared to
12.9% and 3.5% for normal milk.
IMPORTANCE OF COLOSTRUM FEEDING TO NEWLY BORN CALVES.
It provide natural passive immunity to calves as it contain high immunoglobulin.
It actas alaxactive and expel easily the meconium from G.I tract of the calves.
It is a chief source of energy and contain more feed content than normal milk.
It is criticaly important to newly born especially for the first few day of life.Fat is easily
digestable and efficiently used as energy source.
Pathogens are are usually farm specific,thus colostral antibodies are also farm specific
and this way newly born calves develop passive immunity against the preveling diseases
at farm.
It contain low concentration of lactose as compared to normal milk. This characteristic is
biologically importanr b/c lactose is not present in the small intestine during the first day
of life and high intake of lacose causes diarrhea in calf.The low level of lactose there
fore allow high intake colostrum during the first day ,there by optimizing passive
immunity.
It also contain growth factors which include insulin like growth factor 1 and 2 epedermal
growth factor relaxin and nerve growth factor.
It also cotain cytokines (nonantibody protein)
Immunoglobulin in colostrum is the primary protective bodies . The components of
immunoglobulin in colostrum are IgG,IgA.IgM.
LECTURE--12
Failure of passive transfer(FPT)
Insufficent consumption of colostrum reduces the concentration of IgG in serum ,there
by increasing the risk of diseases.
A serum IgG concentration less than 1000mg/dl by 48 hours age has been defined as
failure of passive transfer (FPT) and associated with increased morbidity and mortility.
It has been reported that mortility of calves with serum IgG less than 1000mg/dl was
twice more that of calves with higher IgG level in blood serum.
Failure of postnatal transmission of materinal antibodies result in
1) Mortility rate higher than 50%.
2) Long term impairments of health and production for the survivors.
3) Between birth and weaning mortility rate varies from 20—25 %
4) Additional cost are associated with increased morbidity and decreased productivity.
5) Calves with low level of passive immunity have poor growth rate.
FACTORS CONTRIBUTE TO FPT.
Following are the major factors.
Low concentration of IgG in dam colostrum .
 Poor colostrum feeding technique( too late after birth or too small quantity colostrum per
meal.
Calves not willing to consume sufficient colostrum.
Dystocia.

Per acute mastitis/ udder oedema.

Storage of colostrum for futher use.

The dam produces enough colostrum in the first three milking to feed a calf.Surplus colstrum collected
under hygienic milking conditions should be stored/frozen as areserve.It can be refrigerated for only
about one week before the quality IgG deciline. For long term colostrum storage freezing is the
alternative. It can be frozen for upto a year without significant decomposition of IgG.

Frozeen colostrum should be placed in warm water (not in hot water) and allow to thaw.It can also be
thawed in microwave oven for short period on low power.

T EST USED TO DETERMINE THE IMMUNE STATUS OF YOUNG CALF.

Following test are in practice to determine the immune status of young calves.

1) SODIUM SULPHITE PRECIPATION TEST.

In this test solutions of 14%,1 % 18% of sodium sulphite are used which causes precipitation of
Ig.

To each 3 test tube 9ml of of one concentration of solution 14% 15% ,18% and then 0.1ml serum are
added well mixed and allowed to stand for one hour.

RESULT

a)Sample that precipitate only with 18%( SS) solution contain 5g/L Ig.

b)Sample that precipitate with 15% and 18% sodium sulphite solution contain 5-10 g/L Ig.

c)Sample that precipitate in all three solution of (SS) contain moe than 15 g/L Ig.

Plasma may not be used for the above tes but only Serum separated from blood of calves
will be used.

2). Refrecto meter. A serum refrectometer will give information of the immune status of young calf
since there is high correlation R – 0.87 B/w whole serum protein and gamagluboline level.This test is
reliable up to six days after birth.During this time total protein increase is due the intake of
colostrum.The result is as follows.

a) Less than 4.9 g /dl high risk.

b) 5to5.4g/dl is on medium risk.

c) More than 5.5 low risk for diseases.

However the result will usually not very accurate.

3Glutaraldehyde test . Glutaraldehyde cross links with certain blood protein(IgG and fibrinogen ) to farm
a solid gel. Commerical Kits are available that contain pure glutaraldehyde and can be run wth in 5
miutes. However false positive result appear if the calf is dehydrated or has elevated fibrinogen level.

4) Enzym linked immunusorbent(ELISA) is the most sesative method of determing serum IgG
concentration. It require specific antibodies and microtiter plate reader which make it very
expensive.
5) Commerical latex agglutination test. Whole blood is used in this test and give result in 5
minutes . However this test is very much expensive.