Transition milk, which comes from cows after initial colostrum production, has also been shown to improve calf health
Canadian dairy farmers are doing a better job of getting colostrum to their calves and making sure they have absorbed enough to create passive immunity.
However, researchers are pushing the boundaries on uses for colostrum.
Dr. Dave Renaud, a veterinary epidemiologist in the University of Guelph’s Department of Population Medicine, has found that colostrum can also be a valuable treatment for calfhood diarrhea.
Havelah Carter, one of the students in Renaud’s research group, looked at more than 108 calves with diarrhea, feeding one group half milk replacer and half colostrum for four days. A second group was fed the same milk mix for eight days.
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The results showed that calves fed the longer colostrum mix diet recovered two days quicker and had 100 grams higher gain per day over the 56 days than the control group.
The eight-day colostrum-mix fed group showed little difference in gain compared to calves with no infection.
Renaud and his group will continue to study the value of colostrum as a therapy for neonatal diseases.
He has also looked at feeding transition milk, which comes from cows after initial colostrum production, and has found that it can help improve calf health.
He said the livestock industry has done a great job of understanding the importance of feeding colostrum.
“The single most important thing that you can do is ensure that you give colostrum right away,” he said.
“There’s no other magic bullet that’s out there. This is the magic bullet.”
Colostrum, the first milk from the mother just after calving, is highly nutritious for calves and also gives them passive immunity, which is important because calves are born with no immunity.
In 2004, retired Guelph professor Ken Leslie looked at 500 calves. About 37 percent failed passive immunity tests and were in the poor category.
In 2019, 1,200 calves were studied and 19 percent failed a passive immunity test.
“We’ve had improvement over time, but there’s still opportunity to improve,” Renaud said at the recent Dairy at Guelph research symposium in Elora, Ont.
“I think we deserve a little bit of a pat on the back in terms of what’s changed through time.”
Farmers are also monitoring their herds for passive immunity. A recent study showed 26 percent of farms were measuring passive immunity, which is done with a blood test that looks for serum immunoglobulin (IgG) levels.
“I think there’s a big opportunity out there to create farm-specific data to see where you are with regards to passive immunity,” Renaud said.
Now that there’s a broader understanding of colostrum’s value, researchers say the next step is making sure calves get the best-quality colostrum available because higher IgG levels have been shown to create better immunity in calves.
The industry has been aiming for 10 grams per litre of IgG.
“Recently there’s some data that’s come out to show that we should be striving to achieve much higher levels and get closer to this 25 grams per litre to really protect the calves against disease and protect against mortality.”
