Abstract
Objective—To evaluate the effect of passive transfer status (determined from measurements of serum IgG concentration at 24 hours after parturition [sIgG-24]) on preweaning growth performance in dairy goat kids.
Design—Prospective observational study.
Animals—20 healthy nursing dairy doe kids in a natural nonintensive breeding environment.
Procedures—For each kid, sIgG-24 was measured. Body weight was measured at birth and at the time of weaning 30 days (ie, 29 to 31 days) after birth; average daily gain from birth to day 30 and weight at day 30 were used as measures of preweaning growth performance. Regression analysis was used to evaluate associations between sIgG-24 and measures of preweaning growth performance.
Results—Mean ± SD sIgG-24 was 31.7 ± 10.3 mg/mL. Mean body weights at birth and weaning were 4.105 ± 0.981 kg (9.031 ± 2.158 lb) and 9.310 ± 2.554 kg (20.482 ± 5.619 lb), respectively; average daily gain was 0.174 ± 0.072 kg/d (0.383 ± 0.158 lb/d). No significant association was detected between sIgG-24 and birth weight. However, sIgG-24 was significantly associated with average daily gain (R2 = 0.48) and weight at day 30 (R2 = 0.56). Each increase in sIgG-24 of 1 mg/mL was associated with an increase in average daily gain of 0.005 kg/d (0.011 lb/d) and an increase in weight at day 30 of 0.185 kg (0.407 lb).
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results indicated that passive transfer status (determined as sIgG-24) was a significant source of variation in preweaning growth performance in dairy doe kids reared in this nonintensive breeding environment.
