Confirmation of the passive transfer of maternal antibodies to calves following vaccination of pregnant cows with an inactivated Mannheimia haemolytica and Bovine herpes virus type 1 vaccine

The objective of this study was to evaluate the passive transfer of maternal antibodies to calves following vaccination of pregnant cows with an inactivated Mannheimia haemolytica (MH) and Bovine herpes virus type 1 (IBR) vaccine (Bovilis® MH + IBR). Sixty-two pregnant cows were allocated at random to two groups; one group was retained as a negative control group (T01), while the other group (T02) was vaccinated with Bovilis® MH + IBR on two occasions during their third trimester of pregnancy. Following calving, blood samples were collected from calves for the measurement of serum antibody titres to IBR and MH, with samples collected prior to suckling (Day 0) and on days 5 (±2), 14 (±3), 28, 56, 84, 112, 140, 168, 196, 224, 252 and 280. The group mean IBR blocking percentage remained low for T01 calves (calves born to T01 cows) between days 0 and 224 (range 4.5%–15.4%), while the group mean IBR blocking percentage increased for T02 calves (calves born to T02 cows) from 14.3% on Day 0 to 94.9% on Day 5 and remained significantly higher than T01 calves up until Day 252. The group mean MH titre (Log2) for T01 calves increased after suckling to 8.9 on Day 5, before declining and remaining stable (range 5.0–6.5). The group mean MH titre for T02 calves increased after suckling to 13.6 on Day 5 and then gradually declined; however, it remained significantly higher than T01 calves between days 5 and 140. Outcomes from this study have confirmed that colostral transfer of IBR and MH antibodies to newborn calves was successful and a high level of passive immunity was acquired by calves.