Comparison of bovine serum and colostral antibody: effect of colostral antibody on vaccination of calves for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia

Abstract

Calves born of cows that have been recently vaccinated with the T-1 strain of Mycoplasma mycoides var mycoides do not have antibodies in their sera prior to receiving colostrum from their dams.

The concentration of antibody in colostrum may be higher than that in serum but, on examination by gel filtration, reductive splitting with 2-mercapto-ethanol, and sucrose density centrifugation, it is qualitatively similar to that of the sera. Colostral antibody is absorbed unchanged through the gut wall and can suppress a response to T-1 vaccine, measured by the complement fixation test (CFT), for at least 60 days. Normal calves, 1–7 days old, can respond to a T-1 vaccine in a manner similar to that of adult cattle.