Impact of late-gestation maternal metabolic stress on neonatal dairy calf immunity and disease susceptibility
Print
EmailAngel Abuelo, an assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, investigated how stress affects dairy calf health.
Researcher: Angel Abuelo
Awarded: $25,000
Leveraged: $642,000
Each year, between 7% and 15% of female calves born on U.S. dairy farms die in the first 60 days of life, mainly due to infectious diseases. Replacing lactating cows represents 20% of total dairy production costs. Hence, health disorders of young stock significantly impact the sustainability of the dairy industry and its capacity to meet food demands for the growing world population.
Angel Abuelo, an assistant professor of dairy cattle health and well-being in the College of Veterinary Medicine, explored how stress affects calf health. A major contributing factor to disease incidence in the neonatal period of dairy calves is the inability of calves to mount an effective immune response early in life. Calves are born with a fully equipped but dysfunctional cellular immune system. During the period of maximal expansion of fetal immune cells, the dams experience metabolic stress - a combination of excessive fat breakdown, inflammation, and oxidative stress.
A better understanding of the impact of metabolic stress during late gestation and the first stages of life is necessary to design effective management practices that will enhance neonatal disease resistance and life-long productivity.
This preliminary study explored whether metabolic stress in the dam during late gestation affect the immune responses of newborn dairy calves in three dairy herds in Calhoun and Clinton Counties. The team’s results demonstrated that prenatal exposure to maternal metabolic stress adversely affects metabolic and immune responses of the offspring that influence disease susceptibility. Future studies will investigate strategies to minimize metabolic stress in the dam and their effect on the immune responses of their calves.
