March 29, 2024

Quality colostrum important to protect calves

WORTHINGTON, Minn. — Antibodies provided through colostrum boost the immune system of calves to prevent disease.

“Calves that have a scour event as babies are two and a half times more likely to have a respiratory event,” said Erika Nagorske, a practicing veterinarian for dairy, dairy calf and feedlot medicine with Southwest Veterinary Services, Farmers Business Network’s official veterinary partner.

“Colostrogenesis is the process that momma takes to make sure she is building excellent colostrum so the calf can get as good passive transfer as possible,” added Spencer Wolter, veterinarian for feedlot and cow/calf operations, during a webinar hosted by FBN.

“The mammary gland starts developing to create milk 60 to 90 days before calving,” Wolter said. “The cow starts to dump antibodies in there, so we want to make sure she has been vaccinated and prepped well before she starts making that milk.”

Antibodies are everywhere in a cow’s body, Wolter said.

“They are in her nose, bloodstream and bone marrow, but they start coming out of circulation and put into the udder roughly four weeks before calving,” he said.

When a cow is vaccinated, it makes two types of antibodies.

“One set of antibodies protects the cow and they cannot be deposited into colostrum,” Wolter said. “The second set of antibodies have a special protein and that’s why we want to make sure our pre-calving shots are given a minimum of 45 days before she starts making colostrum.”

“Calves, unlike other species, are born without a fully functioning immune system,” Nagorske said. “They have the immune cells, but they don’t have any memory.”

Other species pass some of the memory to the baby while they’re in utero.

“Cattle are not that way, so that’s the importance of good timing for the pre-calving vaccines, specifically for scours, because all the memory is going to come through the colostrum,” Nagorske said.

“It takes calves five to six weeks for them to develop their own immune system memory,” she said. “They’re using momma’s immune system memory in the colostrum for that first month of life.”

When there is a failure of passive transfer, the calf does not receive an adequate amount of antibodies to set its immune system up for maximum potential.

This can occur due to poor colostrum quality or if the calf does not receive enough colostrum. Timing is also important.

“You want calves up and nursing within an hour to ensure they consume enough high-quality colostrum before their gut closes,” Nagorske said. “After 24 hours, calves can no longer absorb antibodies into their bloodstream.”

If a bad scour situation develops, Wolter said, one option is to use OGH paste.

“Every scouring calf is dehydrated, so the antibodies in the paste neutralize the bacteria and viruses at the source,” he said. “The antibodies bind up the bad bugs in the gut while leaving the good healthy bugs that are helping the calf do well.”

Wolter prefers to have calves drink their colostrum before giving the oral OGH paste.

“It can be given as a preventative, especially if the calving was in a dirty pen because the calf came early,” he said. “This can really give the calf a jump-start from day one to help clean out the gut.”

Martha Blum

Martha Blum

Field Editor