Quickly - The Urgency of Colostrum Management

When a calf is born, things are urgent. She needs to be removed from the calving pen, have her navel dipped, get her gallon of colostrum, all preferably within 1-2 hours after birth. 

That being said, there’s much more to the colostrum Q quickly than might meet the eye. 

Most people, when they hear quickly in reference to colostrum management, the first and last thing they think is, the calf needs her colostrum within 2 hours after birth, or the gut will start to close and the opportunity for the calf to get the IgGs they need will decrease significantly. 

While that is true, the other parts of quickly are equally as important. 

Milking the cow is one of those things on the list of things that needs to be done quickly after the calf is born. 

The second a calf hits the ground, the cow begins to dilute her colostrum with milk. Why does it matter? Because the longer between calving and the first milking, the more diluted the colostrum is, meaning less IgGs, less fat, less protein, less of everything that makes colostrum so special. 

So not only is it important to the calf to get the colostrum into her quickly, but if the colostrum is going from cow to calf, it is even more important that the colostrum gets out of the cow quickly, so that it doesn’t lose its potency, leaving the calf with a decreased ability to absorb IgGs over time AND decrease IgGs in the colostrum because of delayed milking time.

Now, say the colostrum isn’t going from the cow to the calf, is it still important to milk the cow as fast as possible? Yes! She put in all the work to make one of the greatest substances to exist, do her a favor and capture all of that greatness at its maximum potential!

Okay, the calf is fed from the colostrum bank and the cow is milked, what else could possibly be urgent at this point? A lot. 

There is another timer that starts when the colostrum gets out of the cow! A bucket of colostrum is sitting in the milk house. It can only sit there for 20 minutes before the bacteria will double, another 20 minutes, and it will double again, another 20 minutes, and it will do it again and again.

It is imperative that the colostrum is processed and as quickly as possible. 

If you don’t have time to deal with the colostrum until after milking, no worries, add 1 oz of DK-ll per gallon of colostrum as a preservative and store it in the fridge until you have time to bag it and pasteurize it or freeze it. 

Alright, that has to be it right? Wrong. 

Now, while you do have more time because of adding the DK-ll, you still need to stay focused.  You have a 5 gallon bucket of colostrum in your fridge, it needs to get prepped for pasteurization or storage as soon as possible. 

Bag colostrum and either freeze it or get it in the pasteurizer immediately. When the pasteurization process is finished, it still needs to be froze as quickly as possible. 

PHEW that HAS to be it right????

Wrong. 

This is the last thing I promise. 

Thawing. 

It is equally important to thaw colostrum quickly and correctly as it is to do everything else before this. 

Thaw it in water that’s above 140F, you’ll damage IgGs and ruin all of your hard work. 

Thaw it too slowly, or in water that is too cool, and you’ll create an incubator for bacteria and again, ruin all of your hard work. 

How can you avoid this? Get a machine that will do it perfectly for you every time, no questions asked. 

We use a ColoQuick Thaw unit in our calf barn. It will thaw 2 gallons of frozen colostrum and have them ready to feed in 20-25 minutes (depending on the quality). 

The reason it can thaw colostrum in less time than any other machine out there is because it rotates the colostrum 360°, which continually mixes warm and cold colostrum and constantly pushes the chunk of ice to the bottom, instead of it floating. 

It’s as easy as setting the parameters you want when you set the machine up for the first time, for example, 110F for 25 minutes, putting frozen colostrum in, and pushing the “go” button. 

When you get back to the machine after 25 minutes and open the cover, you will either get a ☺ telling you that you didn’t let the colostrum sit for more than 10 minutes after thawing or a ☹ telling you it took you more than 10 minutes after the cycle completed to get the colostrum out. 

Again, this is important because if you leave the colostrum sitting at a warm temperature for too long, it will start to grow bacteria again!

Additionally, the DK-ll will still be providing protection from bacteria growth, to help buffer human error in the process of handling the colostrum. 

These are just a few ways you can manage colostrum handling quickness! If you are wondering how to implement any of these strategies on your farm, send us a message, we would love to help get you started.