Artificial rearing of lambs with bovine colostrum during a sanitation programme of a sheep flock

For a Maedi-Visna eradication programme of the Institute’s sheep flock 364 lambs of the breeds German Blackface, Merino Mutton and Finnsheep as well as Finnsheep x Blackface crosses were reared artificially. 3, 6 and 12 hours p.p. lambs were fed 150 ml of bovine colostrum per kg birth weight. The total number of lambs was subdivided into 11 groups which were fed different sources of colostrum. Colostrum was partly from single cows, colostrum pools with different proportions of fat (2.2 to 7.4 %) and freshly used for bottle feeding or stored deep frozen (–20 °C) for various periods of time (short term up to 7 years). The influences of storage period and fat content of colostrum on passive immunization in artificially reared lambs were investigated. There was no effect observed on either passive immunization, weight gain and rearing losses.

Vollversion deutsch