When I visit farms, although we all know what needs to be done we I continue to see farms with substantial levels of failure to absorb colostrum antibodies. Success means developing a system which is nearly fail proof!
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on April 5, 2024 The practical side of colostrum management
We all know the essentials of colostrum management.
- Feed them early – first two hours of life.
- Feed them enough – 200+g? This is about 4L with excellent quality colostrum.
- Feed high quality – > 50 g/L.
- Keep it clean – Low bacteria count.
When I visit farms, although we all know what needs to be done we I continue to see farms with substantial levels of failure to absorb colostrum antibodies. Success means developing a system which is nearly fail proof!
Where do we go wrong? I let the calf nurse the dam! Research has shown that there are benefits to achieving high IgG levels when the calf nurses the dam! However, that is under research conditions. The picture below demonstrates where things can go wrong.
We must remember that these are dairy cows and not beef calves. Hmmm.. this calf is looking at the wrong end of the cow. The second challenge is that the environment is not as “clean” as is present out on a pasture. Despite our greatest efforts, the bacterial loads in the environment and on the cow’s udder are often very high which has a negative impact on colostrum absorption. While this may be most convenient for the farm, it is a risky way to achieve success. A second challenge is that this cow needs to be milked out as soon as possible after calving and not rely on the calf to nurse.
Let’s look at the risk factors and discuss when can be done practically to achieve success.
Colostrum quality
- Test the colostrum with a Brix refractometer. Anything above 22 is great!
- Periodically obtain a bacteria count on the colostrum as fed to calf. Consider any counts higher than 50,000 cfu/ml as unacceptable. High bacteria count interferes with colostrum absorption and will compromise the program regardless of how high the BRIX reading may be! High bacteria counts are common when colostrum is not cooled or fed promptly. A field study in Minnesota found that 93% of their samples exceeded 100,000!
Timing
- With larger herd sizes, there may be full time personnel in the maternity barn. The “gold standard” is to milk the fresh cow and immediately feed it to her calf. In addition to IgG, there are immune cells from the dam that the calf will absorb and benefit development of their immunity. However, this only happens when the colostrum is from the dam, and it is not pasteurized or frozen.
- It’s also important to recognize that colostrum should be either fed, cooled or pasteurized as soon as possible. Colostrum is great for calves, but unfortunately bacteria grow rapidly with counts doubling every 20 minutes.
- Don’t rely on the refrigerator to cool the colostrum. It must be cooled in an ice bath to bring the temperature down to ~40F or 4C within 10 minutes.
Colostrum handling
- Handle colostrum with the same care as is used for your saleable milk!
- All containers receiving colostrum should be clean! Rinse in lukewarm water, clean with detergent and use an acid rinse, just like the milking equipment.
- Esophageal feeders are especially problematic and difficult to clean.
- Consider use of colostrum handling equipment systems which may be single use and include a disposable esophageal feeding tube and a “bag” to store the colostrum until it’s fed. This is a justifiable expense to assure that colostrum sanitation is maintained.
- If there is a risk of some diseases in a herd, pasteurization is highly recommended. However, it’s important to pasteurize it as soon as possible after harvest before bacteria have a chance to grow. Pasteurization does not “sterilize” the milk. It also destroys any immune cells in the colostrum from the dam.
- If pasteurized colostrum is not fed immediately then it should be chilled immediately.
- Prior to feeding it must be warmed to 105F or 40C.
Colostrum replacers have a role on any dairy farm. They are a great risk management tool. Replacers from reputable manufacturers provide known levels of IgG and low bacteria count. These replacers are a great tool for smaller farms where a calving occurs when there may be too few personnel on the farm to deal with feeding fresh or frozen colostrum. The biggest challenge is that a dairy sees the the net benefit! For many smaller farms, the replacers offer convenience and a means to deliver IgG quickly and efficiently.
Monitor your success! Obtain a blood sample and measure serum proteins. Goals for evaluating your colostrum program are shown in the table below. While it would be great to test all calves between 24 and 48 hours of age, this may not be practical. An alternative goal would be to sample 10% of the calves born. A great reference for on farm testing of serum proteins is found in Calf Note #39 authored by Dr. Jim Quigley. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://calfnotes.com/pdffiles/CN039.pdf
There are few things that will influence the success of your calf program regardless of the feeding system than achieving a high level of success in the colostrum program. Developing a system for success should be the top priority for calf management success.
