Colostrum during the critical first hours
of the neonatal calf

Stephen Acres for Progressive Dairyman

The onset of stress is often an opportunity for infection and disease that can ultimately have significant health consequences. This is especially an issue for heifer calves on a progressive dairy operation. Being proactive on your dairy to reduce the risk factors associated with stress and infection is part of progressive dairy management. Calving protocols and colostrum feeding are the two most important aspects of a heifer calf’s early life that have impact on the animal’s long-term economic potential.

Stress starts early
The transition from the uterus to the barn/pasture is probably the most stressful environmental adjustment in the life of a calf. Understanding the magnitude of the transition and managing the adjustment to their new environment are fundamental to successful calf rearing. Failure to successfully manage this critical transition is most often at the root of high disease morbidity and mortality rates in neonatal calves and most likely the source of long-term low productivity outcomes. Unfortunately, managing this transitional period is also frequently considered low priority in the day-to-day operation of dairy farms.

The stress caused by difficult calvings is often associated with infection and disease that follow in both cows and calves. Calving protocols showing when and how to properly intervene are very important to ensure your maternity pen team is doing the right things at the right time. Consult with your veterinarian to develop and train your staff on a protocol that suits your operation.

Quality colostrum is key
Immediately following birth, calves must initiate independent respiration and metabolism, and begin to mount a defense against infectious agents never before encountered. Failure to successfully adapt to the environment in these early stages of life often results in fatal consequences.

Ensuring the early consumption of high-quality colostrum containing adequate types and levels of antibodies and other important nutritional and biologically active substances is probably the single most important factor influencing a successful transition for a newborn calf. The way to avoid failure of passive transfer (FPT) of immunity is to ensure that calves ingest at least 100 grams, and preferably 200 grams, of immunoglobulin in the first 12 hours of life. Calves that ingest less than 100 grams of immunoglobulin (IgG) are at risk of FPT, which is correlated with economic losses due to increased disease risk, higher death rates and lower long-term production potential. Higher culling rates before and during the first lactation in calves that had FPT when a day or two old, is just one of the very costly sources of economic loss.

The management goal for your colostrum feeding program should be to achieve total serum IgG concentration levels of at least 10 milligram per milliliter in the majority of calves. This can be achieved by testing maternal colostrums with a colostrometer and ensuring that all calves receive 3 to4 quarts of good quality colostrum. If this amount of good quality maternal colostrum is not available, the calf should be fed a high-quality replacement product made from natural colostrum and containing at least 100 grams of IgG.

Prevent suckling
Removing the newborn calf from the dam is a critical, but often overlooked, aspect of a good calf management program. Within hours of life, a calf left with the dam will begin to search for a first feeding of colostrum. It may suckle the dam, but in doing so it may also come into contact with dangerous diseases such as Johne’s disease and Bovine Leucosis that can be transmitted from the dam to the calf if the mother is infected. In addition, studies have shown that a high percentage of calves left to suckle their dam do not ingest an adequate amount of colostrum, due to nervous mothers that do not allow suckling and deformed teats and udders. In these situations, good quality colostrum replacers can provide major benefits.

It should be noted that ingestion of colostrum appears to trigger a physiological response whereby gut closure begins and the calf’s ability to absorb IgG from the intestine into the blood declines dramatically – especially after 6 hours. By 12 hours after suckling, the calf has very little ability to absorb IgG. Therefore, the preferred management recommendation today is to remove calves from the dam within 2 hours of birth in order to avoid inadequate ingestion of IgG and the costly consequences of FPT. If the dam is known to be infected with Johne’s disease or Leucosis, or if there is a high prevalence of these diseases in the herd, newborn calves should be removed from the dam at birth. This helps break the cycle of disease transmission from generation to generation.

The value of colostrum feeding
The benefits of timely colostrum ingestion to the newborn calf are well known and can be summarized in three primary areas of impact.

1. The immunological protection of the neonatal calf against infectious agents during the first weeks of life.

2. The importance of colostrum in preparing the calf to achieve its optimum long-term production potential.

3. Colostrum as an immediate source of energy, readily available and essential for the survival of the calf during the first hours and days of life. Important nutrients in colostrum, such as colostral fat, also initiate fat metabolism pathways that support early growth.

The early immunological benefits noted above are more widely shared and accepted by dairy managers. However, many producers are less aware of the serious long-term economic losses caused by lower long-term production associated with poor colostrum feeding programs. Research, however, is beginning to produce evidence that helps to quantify the costs.

One small study conducted by researchers at the University of Arizona concluded that calves fed 4 liters of colostrum versus 2 liters at the first feeding grew to produce more milk in their first and second lactations and suffered lower culling rates. The heifer calves fed the 2 liters of extra colostrum produced more than 1210 pounds more milk by the end of their 2nd lactation. If marginal milk is worth $0.10 per pound, then the economic return to the extra feeding is $120 per cow.

A strong start
Reducing stress, preventing risk factors for disease onset and feeding amounts of good quality colostrum that deliver a minimum of 100 grams of IgGs are critical to supporting calf survival. Feeding more IgG, such as 200 grams, will not only give your heifer calves a strong start but will also support them to achieve higher production levels as adults. Calves that get a good start are more likely to have higher feed intakes, higher daily weight gains and come into breeding condition sooner than calves born to stress or deficient colostrum feeding protocols. The effort to achieve excellence in the first day of your calf- rearing program will be rewarded through lower disease incidence and higher productivity over the long term. PD