THE COLOSTRUM QUALITY AND COMPOSITION OF SIMMENTAL AND BROWN SWISS HEIFERS

WOS: 000428420300012The present study was conducted to determine the quality and composition of colostrum samples obtained from Simmental and Brown Swiss heifers on a Turkish dairy farm in Odemis, Izmir. The average volume of colostrum obtained from Simmental and Brown Swiss heifers at the first milking was 3.4 L and 3.8 L, respectively. Average colostrometer (Ig) and Brix values were determined as 105.1 mg/mL and 104.9 mg/mL, 29.97 % and 29.68 % of the samples (P>0.05). No significant differences were observed between colostrums' chemical compositions-including total solids, total protein, solids-not-fat, somatic cell counts (SCC), total bacterial counts (TBC), and energy values of the breeds - except for lactose concentration (P<0.05). The means of TBC were 781,000 and 634,000 CFU/mL for Simmental and Brown Swiss, respectively. The correlations between colostrometer and Brix values in Simmentals and Browns Swiss were 0.85 and 0.81, respectively (P<0.01). On the other hand, the correlations between Log(10)SCC and Log(10)TBC in both breeds were found to be 0.66 and 0.65 (P