The nutritive value of colostrum for the calf

The beneficial action of certain antibiotics, particularly chlortetracycline (aureomycin) and oxytetracycline (terramycin) on the growth and well-being of the young calf has been reviewed by Lassiter (1955), and also by Roy, Shillam, Palmer & Ingram (1955) who showed that under their conditions aureomycin given by mouth tended to reduce the mortality rate of colostrum-deprived calves. Earlier, Kastelic, Bentley & Phillips (1950) in Wisconsin, in studies with synthetic milks for newborn calves that had received no colostrum, observed that dihydrostreptomycin afforded some measure of protection against Escherichia coli infections. Taylor (1955) observed that 50,000 i.u. (34 mg) penicillin added twice daily to the diet of colostrum-fed calves reduced the number of deaths from scouring associated with an E . coli septicaemia. Neither this amount of penicillin nor IOO mg chlortetracycline daily affected the incidence or duration of scouring. I n a further experiment, in which white scours was artificially induced in colostrum-deprived calves, 100 mg chlortetracycline/day significantly reduced the number of deaths associated with an E. coli septicaemia during the first 4 weeks of life.