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Full-Text Articles in Veterinary Medicine
Evaluating Colostrum Quality With Niacin Supplementation In The Diet Of Dairy Cattle, Allison Marie Pike
Evaluating Colostrum Quality With Niacin Supplementation In The Diet Of Dairy Cattle, Allison Marie Pike
Student Research Projects
Dairy calves are born with a naive immune system, and must obtain passive immunity through ingestion of colostrum. Colostrum provides the newborn with antimicrobial proteins called immunoglobulins, such as immunoglobulin G (IgG), that protect the calf for the first few weeks of life. Calves that receive good quality colostrum (>50 g/L of IgG) are more likely to survive to adulthood. Niacin is a vasodilator that may increase blood flow to the mammary gland during production of colostrum in the mother. This experiment investigated the effect of niacin supplementation at a rate of 48 g/cow/day for 3 weeks before calving …