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Colostrum Management

If we look at colostrum management, it is very important because the calves are born without any passive immunity. Calves receive that immunity or antibodies through colostrum. Timing is very important. Two factors or two times that I have listed, one is the first hour of life and then 12 hours later, this should be when the animals or when the calves are fed. Quantity for Holstein animals is about 2 quarts per feeding.

Quality is affected by the age of dam, how much milk the animals give at first milking and the vaccination of the dam. In general, these conditions will confer high antibody content in the milk. Older cows, milk from the first milking, dams that have been vaccinated and dams that give a relatively low yield their first milking. Milk with a low antibody content can come from first lactation animals because they have been exposed to fewer pathogens throughout their life because they have been around for a shorter period of time and therefore the variety of antibodies produced in their milk is limited versus older cows. Later milkings, so subsequent milkings, so after the first milking antibody content decreases. Dams that have not been vaccinated. And animals that give a large volume of milk their first milking.

When should colostrum be fed? Immunoglobulin absorption or it is abbreviated Ig is highest at birth and declines to near zero by 24 hours of age. Remember, the antibodies are relatively large molecules and the intestine has the ability to absorb these large molecules for about the first 3-24 hours of life. But, the absorption is highest at birth and declines to near zero by about 24 hours of life. Therefore, the rule of thumb comes in, to feed as soon as possible, so 1-2 hours after birth and then 12 hours later.

How should we feed colostrum? Should we let the calf nurse the dam? Should we bottle feed it? Should we use a tube or an esophageal feeder? Research has shown that 25-40% of the calves that are left to nurse the dam don’t consume an adequate amount of colostrum. The bottom line is that calves left to nurse the dam are at greater risk of consuming an insufficient amount of colostrum and consuming that colostrum later compared to hand-feeding.

How much should we feed? Traditionally, for Holstein or large breed dairy animals, we feed 2 quarts as soon as possible and 2 quarts 12 hours later. Now this does depend on several factors. One is the antibody concentration in the colostrum. And two is the weight and age of the calf. For larger calves, we would probably feed more than 2 quarts per feeding. Also, for older calves or if we have missed that calf immediately after birth and the first feeding doesn’t occur until 12-14 hours, we would increase the amount of colostrum fed to that animal.

What about the antibody concentration of the colostrum? There is an instrument that we can use on the farm that measures quality of colostrum. And what it does, it measures the specific gravity of milk. In general, the greater the specific gravity, the better. Research has shown that milk with a greater specific gravity means more solids and usually more solids means more immunoglobulin or more Ig.

Here is three pictures of a colostrometer.

The first is a picture of a colostrometer. You will notice that it has a lead weight at the bottom. Then a bulb. And then near the top it has three different colors, green, yellow and red. Then we have two samples of colostrum to depict two different levels of antibodies. How a colostrometer is used is, after milking a cylinder, either glass or plastic, is filled with colostrum. The colostrometer is dropped into the cylinder and the further the colostrometer sinks in the cylinder, the lower the specific gravity and therefore the lower the antibody content. The first picture of the colostrometer and the cylinder depicts a poor antibody content. You will notice the colostrometer sink to about the red to yellow line. Green means high quality colostrum. Yellow means caution or feed at your own risk. And red would mean do not feed. So this sample would be either we would feed it with extreme caution maybe the animal doesn’t get enough antibodies or we would not feed it and feed a frozen sample from another cow. The second picture depicts a good quality colostrum. When the colostrometer was inserted into the cylinder, it sank only to the green area that confers a high antibody content and so we would feed this colostrum to the calf. The colostrometer is measuring specific gravity.

The following table shows what happens to specific gravity as milkings increase from the first, second, to the third milking and then normal milk.

It also shows that solids content decreases. Solids content is about 24% at the first milking and declines to about 14% by the third and normal milk is about 13% solids. The protein content also declines from about 14% the first milking to 8.4, 5.1 and then normal milk contains about 3.1% protein. Antibodies or immunoglobulins are protein. The antibody depicted on this table is IgG concentration in grams per liter. You will notice at the first milking about 48 grams of IgG per liter, it decreases almost in half to 25 by the second milking, to 15 by the third and normal milk contains almost no IgG. The first milking, 48 grams per liter is about an average IgG concentration for dairy cows. You will notice if you miss the first milking in feeding the calf, you don’t collect it until the second milking you have decreased the IgG content in half. Fat also decreases as milkings or as cows get later on in milkings. And lactose increases. This is important for some later discussion but remember that protein and fat are quite high in first milking and lactose is low.

What happens if we use a colostrometer and we find that the colostrum is of poor quality? What we generally do is, when we have surplus colostrum of good quality, we will freeze it. We can freeze two quarts in gallon bags. And we can thaw these in warm but not boiling water. This would be the preferred method of thawing. You can also use a microwave on medium to low power or defrost.

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