Effect of colostrum administration practices on serum IgG in goat kids

Sixty Canary Caprine kids (30 males and 30 females) were assigned to three colostrum feeding managements, natural suckling (NS), hand-fed ad libitum colostrum (HALC) and restricted hand-fed colostrum (RHC). IgG concentrations were recorded in colostrum and kids serum at 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 70, and 84 h of life. No significant differences in serum IgG concentrations were observed between kids receiving NS, HALC and RHC at any of the sampling times. Birth weight, prolificacy. and sex were not significantly associated with serum(.)IgG concentration. Kids that survived to completion of the experiment had significantly higher serum IgG concentrations than kids, which died. Higher correlations were founded between IgG feed and IgG serum levels. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.