Duane A. Lienemann UNL Extension Educator,
Webster County February 9, 2012 Edition
A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from my daughter and grandson who discovered that their first born calf, although born without difficulty from a first calf heifer seemed to be going downhill. They determined that it was possible that the calf sucked but was not getting any milk. While that is common, the problem is that this first milk is so very important to the calf in order to survive and to thrive. Unfortunately they lost that calf, but it was a good lesson for my grandson. He learned the importance of an important product from the fresh cow, colostrum. I know full well that many of our beef producers are well into calving or very close to it, so I decided to bring you some information that may be of help.
I would guess that most beef producers recognize the importance of colostrum in helping calves get off to a healthy start in life. Since a mother cow’s antibodies don’t cross her placenta during gestation, the antibodies a calf gets through colostrum are all he will have to fight off infectious diseases during his first weeks of life. Calves not getting enough colostrum are six times more likely to get sick during the first weeks of life compared to calves that got enough colostrum.
Have you ever wondered about the factors that affect colostrum’s ability to help the calf?
On the cow side, the quality and quantity of colostrum are affected by factors such as: cow body condition (cows with body condition scores of 5 or 6 produce better colostrum than poorer-condition cows); cow antibody level (which can be boosted by scours vaccination late in gestation); and the breed of cow (beef breeds generally have higher concentrations of antibodies compared to dairy breeds—some studies show as much as 2 or 3 times higher). While that is a factor, let’s consider the factors that affect a baby calf’s ability to drink colostrum and absorb the antibodies from it.
It is really important when the calf gets colostrum. As I indicated in the prelude to this piece, this might be the most important factor of all. After 24 hours of life, a calf is essentially no longer able to get the benefit of the antibodies in colostrum. But it’s also important to realize that a calf’s ability to absorb colostral antibodies starts to decline as soon as he is born. What this means is that a calf will get a lot more antibodies from colostrum when it’s fed earlier than later. I like to see calves get half of their required amount at 2-3 hours of age, then the rest 4-6 hours after that. If you can’t get to the calf until he is 4 hours old or more, give him the whole amount at once if you have an instance like I described.
Next we need to consider how much colostrum the calf gets. This is the subject of many “rules of thumb” among cattlemen, veterinarians, and extension people. A common rule is that a calf should get a minimum of 100 grams of total antibody through colostrum. But what does that mean? It really depends on the concentration of antibodies in the colostrum, and we know that this can vary greatly between breeds and even between individual cows. If one uses Holstein colostrum with 30 grams of antibody per liter, then a bit over 3 quarts will get the job done. But beef cow colostrum might contain 100 grams in a liter, meaning 1 quart might do it. But it might contain a lot less, too.
It’s hard to tell unless each dose of colostrum is analyzed. In spite of all these calculations, because of the limited window of absorption and the variability between cows in antibody levels, we really need to err on the side of caution when we administer calves colostrum. Providing 4 quarts of colostrum during the first 8-10 hours of life is a common rule of thumb; if colostrum contains 25 grams of antibody per quart (probably attainable by most cows), this should generally result in adequate absorption of antibodies. Feeding more than this to a viable calf will not hurt. That does not mean you give the calf all 4 quarts all at once, spread it out over several feedings.
On a side note, I know a lot of cattlemen who milk out cows with plenty of milk or lost calf, or more likely visit a dairy to get gallon jugs of colostrum, just in case they need it. I might suggest that if you are considering this that before you freeze those units that you first split them up into smaller plastic jugs before freezing. This will allow you to have a lot more success and in a quicker fashion to thaw, warm and most importantly get the colostrum in a quicker fashion to any calf that may need it. Frozen colostrum should be thawed slowly in a warm water bath. Do not use direct heat as this will destroy the antibodies. A microwave can be used to thaw colostrum if it is heated for short periods of time on low power, but I usually steer away from that if at all possible. Please remember that once frozen colostrum is thawed, it cannot be re-frozen. It may interest you that colostrum can be kept frozen for up to one year without much loss of antibodies.
The last factor is what always worried me as a cattleman was stress. Many believe that chill stressed calves do not absorb antibodies from colostrum as readily as calves that are not chilled. Likewise, heat stress causes calves to absorb antibodies less efficiently. Common sense tells us that calves should be protected from temperature extremes, and colostral absorption is another reason to heed that common sense. The nutrients in colostrum significantly improve a chilled calf’s ability to maintain normal body temperature, so it is not wise to delay administering colostrum too long in order to let a calf warm up to a more reasonable body temperature. Cold stress does not affect the length of the “absorption window” significantly one way or the other; however, stress from a difficult calving or lack of mothering from the cow have both been shown to decrease the efficiency of colostrum absorption in calves. I hope you won’t need to worry – good luck!
The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. Some information from this week’s column are compliments of work from South Dakota State University. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu or go to the !website at: http://www.webster.unl.edu
No comments:
Post a Comment