Evaluation of the Brix refractometer as an on-farm tool for the detection of passive transfer of immunity in dairy calves.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the accuracy of both the optical and digital Brix refractometers compared with radial immunodiffusion (RID) for determining the immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrations in dairy calf serum.

DESIGN

The experiment design was a cross-sectional survey of four dairy farms. Serum was sampled from 12 calves from each farm at approximately 48 hours of age.

METHODS

Serum IgG concentrations of 48 calves were measured using RID and both types of Brix refractometer.

RESULTS

IgG concentrations measured by Brix refractometer scores correlated with RID results: 0.74 and 0.71 for the digital and optical devices, respectively. The minimum Brix score that identified calf serum with success of passive immunity (>1000 mg/dL RID IgG) with 100% accuracy was 10% for both devices. The optical and digital devices performed similarly at identifying IgG concentrations in calf serum, with a concordance of 87%.

CONCLUSION

Brix refractometer score ≥10% can be used to classify calves with successful transfer of passive immunity and the devices are sufficiently accurate for use as a simple, inexpensive on-farm tool for the monitoring of neonatal dairy calf immunity levels.