Evaluation of the Relationship Between Colostrum Quality and Lactation Number in Dairy Hair Goats

The lack of passage of immunological cells with large molecular structures such as antibodies and lymphocytes across the placenta of goats causes the offspring to be born agammaglobunemic and susceptible to infectious agents.The only way for the offspring to gain immunity is to provide passive transfer through colostrum. Therefore, the immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentration in colostrum is important for a quality colostrum. Based on this, the aim of this study was to determine the IgG concentration in goats with different lactations and offspring numbers. The study was conducted on 52 goats that gave birth to single (n=38) and twin (n=14) offspring in the 1st (n=8), 2nd (n=16), 3rd (n=12) and 4th (n=14) lactations. The IgG concentration in colostrum was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent analysis. The IgG level in goats was measured as 17.76±0.67 µg/mL in the 1st lactation, 23.6±2.56 µg/mL in the 2nd lactation, 22.5±1.45 µg/mL in the 3rd lactation and 17.35±2.16 µg/mL in the 4th lactation. In addition, the IgG concentration in goats with a single kid was determined as 19.82±1.79 µg/mL, while it was determined as 22.70±0.76 µg/mL in twin kid. As a result, it was determined that the hair goats in different lactations included in this study did not have very good quality colostrum. The poor quality of colostrum in goats may lead to the development of colostral passive transfer failure in kids. In the future, studies are needed to evaluate the effects of different nutritional supplements and vaccination applications on improving colostrum quality in order to increase colostral IgG concentration in goats.