Randomized controlled clinical trial on the effect of oral immunoglobulin supplementation on neonatal dairy calves with diarrhea

Chung, James J.; Rayburn, Maire C.; Chigerwe, Munashe

Thorough mixture of the supplement with milk was achieved by using an electric kitchen whisk. To avoid delaying of the feeding process of calves by the farm personnel, total solid concentrations were not measured after mixing the supplements with milk. To ensure accurate addition of the supplements and record keeping, nipple bottles for feeding enrolled calves were color coded with blue, black, and red colors using indelible markers representing the 3 groups. The colors on the nipple bottles were then matched with colors placed on individual calf hutches. The authors performed addition of supplements to the milk, mixing, and feeding of all enrolled calves. The farm personnel and the author (M.C.) who performed data analysis were blinded to the group assignments. Supplement addition to the milk for the TRXT and PLCB group calves were performed at the 6 am and 12 pm feedings. All 102 calves were enrolled within 5 days of commencement of the study. The study was performed from June 2018 to July 2018 and was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC #19628).