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.

Using a Brix Refractometer to Evaluate Colostrum Quality

On May 8, 2016 Dr. Jim Quigley published Calf Note #187 on this topic. To go to that note click HERE. 

Jim summarizes the finding of three studies done in 2013, 14 and 15 in one very handy table (Table 1.)

Using these data he worked out another table showing the estimated connection between BRIX readings and serum IgG values (g/L). Table 2 shows that a BRIX reading of 8.0% is about equal to the standard we have been using for minimum passive transfer of 10g/L IgG.

Using total serum protein values (from a clinical refractometer) I have been recommending these performance standards:

1. 90% calves testing at 5.0g/dl or greater

2. 75% calves testing at 5.5g/dl or greater

If we make the conversion from these values to those from a BRIX refractometer then my recommended performance standards are:

1. 90% calves testing at 8.0% or greater

2. 75% calves testing at 8.5% or greater

It should be uncommon to get readings as high as 9.5-10.0. While high readings may indicate superior passive transfer more often these very high readings suggest significant dehydration in the calf. 

What Percentage of Colostrum Antibodies end up in the Blood?

Given a few facts it is possible to estimate the efficiency of absorption of antibodies by calves. Need to know the calf's weight and the volume of antibodies fed.

Quigley notes in his Calf Notes #81 that observed variation in this efficiency varies from 20 to 35 percent. That's right. Feed 100 units of antibodies and only 20 to 35 end up in the blood. Don't be surprised. It is a rough trip for antibodies from mouth to small intestine where they are transported from the intestinal wall into the blood - think of all those abomasal acids!

A recent report at the University of New Hampshire collected data from 28 calves. They found efficiency of absorption averaged 26 percent.

A study done in Florida looked at the question of heat stress on the dam precalving might effect the efficiency of absorption of antibodies by their calves.

 Ten dry cows had luxury apartments - their free stall area had fans and soakers. Ten dry cows had the standard housing - no fans, no soakers. The temperature-humidity index in both stall areas averaged 78. (Referring to the standard THI graph, 78 is in the upper end of the "moderate-heat-stress" range. That puts it relatively close to being classified as "severe heat stress.")

The heat-stress cows had higher rectal temperatures compared to cooled cows. Cooled cows had a respiration rate of 49 breaths/minute compared to 67 br/min for heat-stressed cows. Lots of huff and puff for the heat-stressed cows.

What happened to their heifer calves? They were all fed the same volume of the same quality of colostrum at about the same time after birth. The calves from heat stressed cows had an apparent efficiency  of absorption of 19 percent. In contrast the calves from cooled cows had an absorption rate of 33.6 percent. 

What do I conclude?

1. If we want high levels of circulating antibodies from colostrum in our calves we need to feed enough antibodies to allow for a high level of losses.

2. Given large variations from calf-to-calf in efficiency of absorption (mostly unpredictable) our best management strategy is to feed enough high quality colostrum shortly after birth to all our calves to get adequate immunity even among the calves with low efficiency.

On a side note, feeding a greater volume of colostrum to newborn calves can be a poor policy if the colostrum is badly contaminated with bacteria. The greater number of bacteria fed the greater the chances that the calf will either get quite sick or die. Please do not increase the volume you feed to calves (for example, increase from 2 quarts to 4 quarts) until you have confirmed that your colostrum is clean.

References: S. Tao and Others, "Effect of late-gestation maternal heat stress on growth and immune function of dairy calves." Journal of Dairy Science 95:7128-7136. K.M. Aragona and Others, "Prepartum supplementation of nicotinic acid: Effects on health of the dam, colostrum quality and acquisition of immunity in calf." Journal of Dairy Science 99:3529-3538.

Cooling Dry Cows?

In a small study done in Florida (n=20) it was demonstrated that heat stress among dry cows may play a role in the growth and development of heifer calves.

Ten dry cows had luxury apartments - their free stall area had fans and soakers. Ten dry cows had the standard housing - no fans, no soakers. The temperature-humidity index in both stall areas averaged 78. (Referring to the standard THI graph, 78 is in the upper end of the "moderate-heat-stress" range. That puts it relatively close to being classified as "severe heat stress.")

The heat-stress cows had higher rectal temperatures compared to cooled cows. Cooled cows had a respiration rate of 49 breaths/minute compared to 67 br/min for heat-stressed cows. Lots of huff and puff for the heat-stressed cows.

What happened to the heifer calves? Although they all started out about similar birth weights by the time they reached 56 days the calves from cooled dams were heavier (157 pounds from cooled dams, 135 pounds from heat-stress dams). 

An analysis of feed intake showed that most of this difference was dry matter intake from calf starter grain. At the end of the 56-day trial cooled-dam calves were eating about 4.4 pounds of grain daily compared with the 3.0 pound-a-day consumption of the heat-stress-dam calves.

Only a small study - but the differences were pretty large. Just one more reason to keep our expectant mothers comfortable.

Reference: A.P.A Monteiro and Others, "Effect of maternal heat stress during the dry period on growth and metabolism of calves." Journal of Dairy Science 99:3896-3907 May 2016.

How Accurately Does Colostrum Volume Predict Quality?

In a study involving 507 Holstein cows the study team collected colostrum measuring both the volume at first milking and the antibody concentration.

There was a very wide variation in antibody (IgG) concentration at every interval of colostrum volume. For example, at the 4-quart volume the lowest IgG concentration was approximately 15 mg/mL and the highest was 200 mg/mL. Or, at the 12-quart (3 gallons) volume the lowest value was about 40 mg/mL and highest value was 220 mg/mL.

There was a measurable decrease in IgG concentration as volume increased only among cows 3^rd lactation and greater. However, this relationship between volume and IgG level was dwarfed by the variation among mature cows at every level of colostrum yield. 

No connection was found between volume and concentration among 1^st and 2^nd lactation samples. Since in the US on average dairy herds are composed of 50 percent in lactations 1 and 2 there are a lot of dams where there is little or no connection between volume and quality

In my opinion, knowing the volume is an unreliable guide to sorting out the lowest quality colostrum. Better to measure than guess.

References: Kehoe, S. I., A.J. Heinrichs, M.L. Moody, C.M. Jones, and M.R. Long, “Comparison of immunoglobulin G concentrations in primiparous and multiparous bovine colostrum.” Professional Animal Scientist 27 (2011): 176-180. E. Hare and Others, "Survival rates and productive life of dairy cattle in US." Journal of Dairy Science 89:3713-3720.

Getting the most bang for your vaccination dollar

This is the title of a webinar given by Dr. Amelia Woolums, DVM at Mississippi State University in February, 2016.

I was impressed by her straight forward presentation of basic immunology concepts and how they apply to young calves.

The archived copy of the webinar is available at 

http://www.hoards.com/webinararchives_16-feb 

or just click HERE.

May Calf Management Newsletter

"Do I Need a Calf Vaccination Protocol?"

·        Why do we vaccinate?

·        What is a calf/heifer vaccination protocol?

•   What are the costs and benefits of a calf/heifer vaccination protocol?
•    If I don’t have a protocol, what are the steps to get one?

Click HERE to go to the May 2016 issue of Calving Ease.