Over the last several years, colostrum supplements, and replacement products have been marketed and tried by dairy managers and veterinarians. Colostrum supplements were developed to boost or complement on-farm colostrums that may be low in quality and/or quantity. Colostrum replacement products were designed to replace colostrum while delivering the need passive immunity from immunoglobulins or IgG. Source of these products have been produced from milk or blood derived. In one procedure, bovine blood is collected under USDA inspection meeting human guidelines, centrifuged to separate plasma and red blood cells, fibrin removed, filtered, and spray-dried. Regardless if which product or colostrum you are feeding, the following key points must occur.

1. Colostrum and colostrum products must deliver greater than 100 grams of IgG for absorption in the new born calf immediately after birth.
2. Plasma levels in the calf’s blood should be greater than 10 grams of IgG per liter (can also be expressed at 1000 mg/dl or 10 mg /ml) indicating effective absorption, adequate levels of IgG were fed, and calves received the IgG after birth before gut closure occurred.

In a national survey of 2177 calves, only 41 percent had adequate levels of blood IgG. Calves with blood levels over 10 grams of IgG per liter had three percent higher survival rates than calves below 10 grams of IgG per liter.

Interest in Colostrum Products

Several reasons for renewed interest in colostrum products have prompted new research and products for the market place.

• In non-tested Johnes herds, all maternal colostrum should be considered as a risk to transmit Johnes disease.
• Colostrum quality is variable depending on the age of cow, breed, dry period management, vaccination programs, mastitis, and colostrums leakage. A colostrometer is useful to measure colostrums quality, but it is not commonly used on dairy farm.
• Dairy managers wanting to minimize disease risk (such as Johnes, Mycoplasma, salmonella, and other contaminants) can use this approach. This disease risk applies when purchased heifers are added to expanding herd and health history and background are not known.
• If dairy managers are marketing replacement heifers, buyers should recognize and pay for the added value when calves received a colostrum replacement that was disease free.
• Feeding a colostrum replacer is convenient when cows calve at night (not requiring immediate milking of the fresh cow to get colostrum for the calf), no need to thaw out frozen colostrum, and ease to mix in smaller volumes of liquid (two quarts).
• Calf death losses may be too high and may be related to colostrum management on the farm.

Research Results

Recent studies reported in the Journal of Dairy Science (JDS) indicated colostrum replacer from bovine serum fed at the rate of 90 to 244 grams of IgG raised blood plasma levels in calves to 5.5 to 14.5 gram per liter indicated successful passive transfer. A second JDS study reported similar results with 160 Holstein calves. A Wisconsin field study using 289 calves from six dairy farms reported similar blood levels of IgG and no difference in health scores when a colostrum replacer was compared to a traditional colostrums feeding program. Table 1 compares the nutrient comparison of a commercial colostrums replacer (CR) and two qualities of colostrum (high and low).

Table 1. Nutrient comparison of three colostrum products.

One Commercial Product

One commercially available colostrum replacer is Secure (trademark) Calf Colostrum Replacer. This product supplies 125 grams of IgG in a 500 gram foil bag that is mixed in two quarts of water. It disperses into the water making mixing easy to perform on the farm. The nutrient profile of this commercial product is listed in Table 1 as CR. The cost of this product is about $20 per treatment and is sold in the Midwest by Vita Plus Corporation.

Reference to a commercial product or trade name is for educational purposes only. No endorsement or discrimination is intended by the author.