Calves with Sam

Colostrum for 10-Year Old's

Imagine this! You have a group of 20 ten-year old's for 30 minutes. They are 4-H dairy club members from all around New York State.

Your goal is to have them learn something useful about colostrum. So, what to do?

I had three such groups in Morrison Hall on the Cornell campus on Saturday (May 7th, 2016).

I thought you might be interested in the two pages I prepared for this event;

1. Summary of facts about colostrum.

2. Places to find out more about colostrum. 

I pasted them below. Enjoy.

Colostrum Facts

By Sam Leadley, Attica Veterinary Associates, P.C.

1. First milking after a cow calves.

2. Compared to whole milk, colostrum has 91% greater solids (24% solids vs. 13% for milk).

3. Compared to whole milk, colostrum has 88% greater fat (6.8% fat vs. 3.6% for milk)

4. Compared to whole milk, colostrum has 6,500% greater antibodies (6% antibodies vs. 0.09% for milk).

5. Primary source of immunity for newborn calves (cows cannot pass antibodies to their babies before they are born like human mothers do).

6. Excellent place to grow bacteria – E. coli bacteria can double every 20 minutes in warm colostrum. Remember 30-minute rule: After collecting colostrum either feed or chill within 30 minutes.

7. Antibody content varies very widely among cows.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT COLOSTRUM?

1. Try www.calffacts.com – there are 25 fact sheets written for calf care person dealing with many practical day-to-day aspects of colostrum management.

2. Try www.calfnotes.com – there are 50 facts sheets written for dairy farm managers dealing with many scientific aspects of colostrum.

3. Try http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/dms/fapm/fapmtools/calves.htm - there are three useful resources especially one for collection, labeling, storage and administration of colostrum.

4. Try

http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/dairy/calves-and-heifers/colostrum-management.pdf - this is a general 30-slide power point presentation about colostrum and best management practices.

5. Try

http://afsdairy.ca.uky.edu/extension/nutrition/calves/colostrummanagement - this is a more scientific article with plenty of facts about colostrum and best management practices.