Passive transfer affects feed efficiency

When passive transfer fails, feed efficiency and growth rates suffer, says Mike Van Amburgh, dairy nutritionist at Cornell University.  Researchers compared the performance of calves with good passive transfer — as measured by a blood serum protein level of 5.5 milligrams per deciliter or greater — to calves with poor passive transfer in three controlled field studies conducted in New York. Here is what they found:

• Dry matter intake was equal.
• The feed efficiency and growth rate of calves with poor passive transfer was just 50 percent of their counterparts.

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