COW/CALF CORNER
Transfer Factor
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BY
HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
Cattle producers deal with disease by vaccination for
prevention, and anti-microbial drugs for treatment. The
use of drugs is questioned today however, due to increasing numbers of drug-resistant pathogens, and the issue of
drug residues in meat if drugs are not used appropriately.
Some beef producers and veterinarians are looking
at alternatives to antimicrobial use. A bright spot in this
quest is immune system enhancement and the role of
transfer factors. If the immune status of animals can
be enhanced, disease is less likely to occur, and if they
do get sick, severity and duration of disease can be reduced���without as much antimicrobial treatment.
Dr. Steve Slagle, a veterinarian in Granite Bay, California, has been using a transfer factor product in his
practice since 1999. ���This is a natural immune enhancer and derives its efficacy from a protein produced by the immune system���s T lymphocytes. This
transfer factor is also found in cow colostrum. To create human and animal products, the protein is extracted from colostrum,��� he explains.
The body���s immune system produces memory molecules whenever it is exposed to disease or receives
vaccination. These bioactive peptides are transfer factors and passed from cow to calf via colostrum. This
transfer educates the immune response cells of the
newborn calf.
Immunities can be transferred from one person to
another by blood transfusions. In 1949, Dr. H. Sherwood Lawrence, a researcher working on tuberculosis
Circle No. 128 on Reply
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FEED���LOT April/May 2013