Development and prophylaxis of anaemia in calves and lambs

Abstract

Certain changes take place in the composition and volume of the blood of newborn animals that are of species- and age-specific character and that are most clearly expressed during the perinatal periodMost important are the changes in the red blood cellsThe content of haemoglobin in the blood of newborn pigs is greater than 10–11 g/100 ml and this drops to about 9g/ 100ml in the course of the first 24hAccording to Furugouri et al.⁶, this decrease is due to dilution of the blood resulting from the absorption of colostrumThe haemoglobin content in the blood of the newborn calves is 12.5–13.5 g/100ml, the erythrocyte count is 8.1–8.9 x 10⁶ per mm³ and the haematocrit is 38–40%^7,13These all decline in the course of the following 2 weeksGiirtler et al ^s observed a decrease in the blood iron in calves of the German Black–and–White breed from 159±52/*g/100ml to 69 ±25 fig/ 100 ml in the course of the first 96 h after birthThe erythrocytes in pigs at birth contain less fetal haemoglobin (11.1 g/lOOml) and more adult type haemoglobinAt the 6th hour following birth the level of fetal haemoglobin drops to 6.7g/lOOml and on the 3rd day to 3.3 g/100ml¹²The erythrocytes in calves and lambs at birth contain only fetal haemoglobin which is replaced by adult haemoglobin by the 9th and the 2nd week, respectively¹⁵.