A note on the effect of time of uptake of colostrum on blood gamma-globulin levels, mortality and subsequent performance of housed lambs

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Abstract
SUMMARY: An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of time of uptake of colostrum on blood gamma-globulin concentrations, lamb survival and subsequent growth rate. Seventy-six Greyface ewes and their lambs were housed throughout the experiment. After lambing, the lambs were either allowed to suck their dams immediately or restricted from sucking for 6 or 18 hr after birth. The gamma-globulin concentration in the lamb sera reached a peak 24 to 72 hr after the time of first suck and then gradually declined to 6 weeks. Restriction from sucking for the first 18 hr after birth did not reduce the amount of gamma-globulin absorbed compared with lambs allowed immediate access to colostrum. There was no difference between groups in lamb mortality which was low in all cases. With both single and twin lambs the best live-weight gain was achieved by lambs allowed to suck their dams from birth.