A Study on the Changes of Colostrum Quality, Milk Constituents and Somatic Cell Count after Calving in Holstein Friesian Cows

Abstract

Colostrum quality produced by dairy cows varies considerably. The amount of immune protein content in colostrum has also high specific gravity. In this study, the specific gravity of colostrum (SGC) produced by 32 Holstein-Friesian cows with different parities in the first five milking after calving, and additionally, the fat content (FC), non-fat dry matter content (NFDMC) and somatic cell count (SCC) in the milk samples taken in the first five milking and on the fifth and 10th day milking of lactation were determined. The effects of parity and milking order on SGC, FC, NFDMC and Log10SCC were detected to be statistically significant. Parity x milking order interaction effect was found to be significant for SGC, FC and NFDMC, but its effect on Log10SCC was insignificant. Cows with three and upper parities had higher SGC, FC, NFDMC, and Log10SCC than cows in the first and second parities. While SGC (1055.09±1.20 mg/mL), FC (6.36±0.12%) and NFDMC (18.17±0.37%) obtained at the first milking decreased gradually in advancing milking, Log10SCC (5.90±0.028) level increased. The correlation coefficients of SGC with FC, NFDMC, and Log10SCC were low-medium, the coefficients between FC and NFDMC were moderately too high in the first three milking, and decreased and approached zero in advancing milking. It was observed that SGC remained high even in the fourth milking in some cows, especially in the third and higher parities. In conclusion, it has been revealed that not only colostrum obtained from the first milking, but also quality colostrum produced in subsequent milking can be used in calf feeding in dairy cattle farms. However, all this depends on the adoption of the strategy of determining the quality of colostrum with the help of a colostrometer in dairy cattle farms.