Developing a criteria to select colostrum samples of poor quality

Created with SARE support
Dr. Sarah Hazelton | 2018 | 2 pages

Good colostrum management is essential to the health of newborn replacements and lifelong profit as it directly links to an adequate transfer of immunity to the calf.

While the farmer found it was not possible to develop a set criteria to select animals that would produce low-quality colostrum, the project showed that that testing colostrum was important ahead of making assumptions like age of animal, which has been a standard criteria for years.  It also showed that testing could confirm the energy status of the animals.

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This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.