Table 4.
Continuous colostrum feeding practices and quality for preweaned dairy calves on 104 US operations from March 2014 to September 2015
| Variable | Heifer calves |
Calf mean (SE) | Percentile |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | 5th | 25th | 50th | 75th | 95th | ||
| Brix reading completed on-farm (% Brix) | 300 | 11.8 | 23.6 (0.2) | 19.0 | 22.0 | 23.0 | 25.0 | 30.0 |
| Time to colostrum feeding (h) | 2,401 | 94.3 | 2.8 (0.1) | 0.5 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 8.0 |
| Amount of first colostrum feeding (L) | 2,446 | 96.1 | 2.9 (0.0) | 1.9 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Total amount of colostrum fed (L) | 2,412 | 94.8 | 4.5 (0.0) | 1.9 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 5.7 | 7.6 |
| Colostrum IgG (g/L) | 2,253 | 88.5 | 74.2 (0.7) | 25.0 | 52.2 | 72.9 | 92.6 | 130.1 |
| Colostrum Brix (%) | 2,253 | 88.5 | 23.5 (0.1) | 14.9 | 20.9 | 23.9 | 26.5 | 30.7 |
| Age at serum sampling (d) | 2,476 | 97.3 | 3.1 (0.0) | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 |
| Serum IgG (g/L) | 2,498 | 98.2 | 21.7 (0.2) | 6.1 | 14.3 | 20.8 | 28.3 | 40.2 |
| Serum total protein (g/dL) | 2,496 | 98.1 | 6.0 (0.0) | 4.6 | 5.4 | 5.9 | 6.5 | 7.4 |
| Serum Brix (%) | 2,494 | 98.0 | 9.2 (0.0) | 7.5 | 8.4 | 9.1 | 9.8 | 10.9 |