Colostrum

Calves are born with a non-developed immune system and must absorb antibodies from colostrum until their own immune system becomes functional. At 24 hours old, the calf gut "closes" and becomes unable to absorb antibodies. Calves that fail to absorb enough antibodies in the first 24 hours are said to have suffered Failure of Passive Transfer (FPT).

All calves, including bobbies, must receive adequate fresh colostrum within the first 12 hours of life and should be fed colostrum, or a colostrum substitute, for at least the first four days of life.

Giving your newborn calves the correct amount of high-quality colostrum will help ensure:

Less scours and disease
Reduced death rates
Better growth rates
Improved lifetime productivity and fertility

You can achieve this by:

Feeding newborn calves 4 litres (or more for heavier calves) of gold colostrum within the first 6-12 hours of life
Testing the quality of colostrum and feeding newborns gold colostrum with brix readings over 22 percent
Scrubbing all calf rearing equipment with hot soapy water
Storing colostrum in a lidded drum or vat, stirring regularly

Recent studies have shown about a third of calves in New Zealand suffer from FPT and do not get enough good quality colostrum soon enough after birth. This is caused by:

Feeding colostrum with low levels of antibodies
Feeding too little colostrum
Feeding colostrum too late after birth
Bacteria contaminating colostrum at harvest, during storage or at feeding

Are your calves getting what they need?

You can test to see if your calves are getting enough antibodies from colostrum by getting blood tests done by your vet. Blood samples of 12 healthy calves between one and seven days of age can be sent to the lab to estimate the antibody levels. Doing this at the beginning and peak of calving will give you the best insight into how it is going on your farm.

The 3 Q's of colostrum management

1. Quality: >22 percent Brix target

Gold (1st milking) colostrum is the highest quality colostrum and should be fed to newborns, but quality can vary. Brix refractometers are small, simple tools that can be used to measure the antibody level in colostrum.

Gold colostrum that measures 22 percent or more with a Brix refractometer is considered high quality. For the best results, colostrum that measures 22 percent or more, or the highest quality colostrum you have available, should be fed to newborns.

2. Quickly: feed calves within 12 hours of birth

It is most effective to feed colostrum in the first 6-12 hours of life as antibodies cannot be absorbed after 24 hours. Every hour counts when it comes to feeding colostrum.

3. Quantity: 4-6 Litres

Newborn calves need at least 10 percent of their bodyweight (4 litres for a 40kg calf) of gold colostrum within the first 6-12 hours of life. Calves can only take 1.5-2 litres in their stomach (abomasum), so two feeds within the first 12 hours is the target.

Colostrum hygiene

Bacteria in colostrum can decrease its quality and prevent calves from absorbing antibodies. Contamination can occur during colostrum harvest, storage, and feeding.

Clean collection buckets before use
Feed calves from youngest to oldest (sick calves last)
Use hot soapy water to clean all equipment and buckets after each use

Colostrum storage

Feeding fresh colostrum is best but if you need to keep it for any length of time, even two or three hours, it is important to ensure the quality doesn’t decrease.

Store colostrum in a lidded drum or vat and stir regularly
Ideally, colostrum should be refrigerated (at 4°C) or frozen.
If refrigeration or freezing is not possible, add a chemical preservative agent to the colostrum, such as potassium sorbate at a rate of one percent by volume of a 50 percent solution.

How to preserve colostrum with potassium sorbate

Potassium sorbate is a chemical food preservative. Its anti-microbial properties stop the growth and spread of harmful bacteria. When used correctly, it inhibits bacterial growth in colostrum and milk. It can also be used to preserve antibody levels in 'gold' (first milking) colostrum.

All equipment MUST be clean and sterile

Gather safety equipment (glasses, mask, gloves)
Potassium sorbate (preferably granules)
Water (as clean as you can get it)
Scale
Very clean container with millilitre measurements
Stirrer

How to make a 50% solution of potassium sorbate

Potassium Sorbate	TO	Water (stir thoroughly)
50 grams		100 mls
500 grams		1 litre
5,000 grams		10 litres
10 kg		20 litres

How to add a 1% potassium sorbate mix to colostrum

Potassium Sorbate (50% solution)	TO	Colostrum
1 ml		100 mls
10 mls		1 litre
100 mls		10 litres
200 mls		20 litres
1 litre		100 litres

Do's and Don'ts

Use only food-grade potassium sorbate and very clean water.
Treat each additional volume of colostrum with 1% potassium sorbate before you add it to your vat.
Don't use any potassium sorbate solution that has been mixed up for more than a week.
Colostrum can be preserved with potassium sorbate and either stored at room temperature or refrigerated, if possible at 4C.

Colostrum podcast

Are your calves getting the colostrum they need? How are you supposed to know and what can you change to make sure they do? And what are some of the common myths about colostrum? Find out in this episode of Talking Dairy, featuring veterinarian and researcher Emma Cuttance.

Listen on:

Colostrum webinar

Find out about what management practices can help make sure your calves get quality colostrum when they need it.

CalvingSmart Webinar: Giving calves a great start to life

Video 58:52 min

Providing the right amount of the best colostrum early in life is the right thing to do for your calves. Gold colostrum provides energy and health benefits for all calves and is part of world leading animal care.