Delivering critical nutrients to the newborn calf
Calves represent the future of every beef and dairy herd and delivering the essential factors found in colostrum during their first critical hours of life is vital to their survival.
Feeding essential disease fighting antibodies or immunoglobulins (commonly called IgG1) must be accomplished within the calf ’s first hours of life before its ability to absorb these antibodies declines dramatically.
For example, at 8 hours of age, absorption of antibodies from colostrum can be as low as 50 percent of what it was at birth. Feeding adequate amounts of clean, maternal colostrum is considered the gold standard but in many situations, this is not achievable.
A high quality colostrum replacer is one management tool that can effectively replace maternal colostrum and get calves off to a healthy start.
Using colostrum replacer may be beneficial because ensuring that the calf receives sufficient clean, maternal colostrum can be a challenge for a variety of reasons:
• On-farm harvested colostrum may transmit disease due to inadequate cow udder preparation, sloppy collection techniques, inadequate facilities, poorly trained personnel or mediocre equipment sanitation.
• Producers also face challenges with proper cooling, storage and feeding protocols when attempting to provide calves with on-farm collected colostrum. Feeding colostrum that is contaminated with bacteria decreases IgG absorption and can serve as a source of infection for scours, pneumonia or other diseases.
• In beef cattle operations, the ability to have an emergency supply of quality maternal colostrum is even more challenging since a readily available supply from other cows on the farm or ranch often doesn’t exist and using unpasteurized colostrum from dairy farms is inadvisable due to the danger of introducing serious diseases such as Johne’s or Salmonella.
In these situations, colostrum replacer is a management tool that can be critical for saving calves born to dams that have died, or have poor colostrum production or are born to first calf heifers that lack “mothering instinct” and thus reject their calf from suckling.
• A colostrum replacer can provide an effective alternative for calves in situations when maternal colostrum is not available or is of low quality.
• In poor sanitary conditions, a colostrum replacer can assist in filling the void until management resolves the contamination problem.
• When maternal colostrum is of low quality, a colostrum replacer supplies a calf with as much as 100 grams of IgG. Calves immune systems use these antibodies to identify and neutralize foreign invaders, such as viruses and disease.
High quality
colostrum replacer allows for levels of passive transfer Intermountain Farmers Association 11 to calves similar to that from good quality maternal colostrum. Serum IgG levels in calves receiving a high quality colostrum replacer will average 10 grams per liter or more, a desirable level for adequate passive transfer.
Colostrum replacers are an ideal alternative to maternal colostrum, but the effectiveness of different products can vary significantly. Even when fed to deliver the same amount of immunoglobulins/antibodies, different colostrum replacers may produce varying results.
Colostrum replacers are typically identified as any product that is able to raise calf blood-serum IgG concentration above 10g/l, while colostrum supplements are typically not able to meet this target for adequate passive transfer and must be used along with maternal colostrum.
There are key differences between colostrum replacers and supplements:
• Colostrum replacers contain more IgG than supplement products and provide more antibodies than low or moderate quality colostrum.
• Colostrum supplements contain less than 100 g IgG per dose.
• Colostrum supplements cannot replace high quality colostrum.
• IgG available within colostrum supplements is often absorbed poorly.
When maternal colostrum is not available, there are proven colostrum replacers that are an effective replacement for the real thing. While supplements are also available, some offer little value and can even hinder quality of the maternal colostrum.
Whenever there is doubt as to whether a calf will receive sufficient maternal colostrum, it is very important to supplement the calf quickly and use a proven replacement colostrum product that provides adequate protection.
Information courtesy of Land ‘O Lakes.
Colostrum Replacement is available at your local IFA branch.
