Best practice to give colostrum early

MSD Animal Health veterinary technical adviser Jo Holter agrees: get your colostrum feeding right, and you'll be going a long way towards raising healthy replacement calves.

Feed newborn calves 10per cent of their bodyweight (4kg for a 40kg calf) of "gold" colostrum within the first 6 to 12 hours of life.

It's most effective to give smaller feeds more frequently (for example, two feeds within the first 12 hours of life).

Test the quality of colostrum from individual cows and only feed newborn calves gold colostrum from cows that have BRIX readings of over 22per cent.

If pooling colostrum, select only healthy cows. Be aware that pooling colostrum increases the risk of infecting calves with contagious diseases such as Johnes.

Use hot soapy water to clean all equipment and buckets, as this will remove colostrum fatty residues leading to bacterial contamination.

Store colostrum in a lidded drum or vat and stir regularly. Ideally, colostrum should be refrigerated (at 4C).

If refrigeration is not possible, add a chemical preservative agent to the colostrum, such as potassium sorbate at a rate of 1per cent by volume of a 50per cent solution. Colostrum should be fed within two to three days of collection.

Continuing to feed colostrum to calves beyond the initial 24 hours (after the calf gut 'closes') may also have advantages, as immunoglobulin can bind to infectious agents in the gut, limiting disease prevalence and severity. It is also a highly nutritious feed.

Vaccinating your herd three to six weeks before planned start of calving with a product such as Rotavec or Scourguard will boost specific antibody levels in colostrum.