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The Colostrum Problem and It Solution

Dairy Husbandry Department, University of Missouri Columbia Missouri

ABSTRACT

1. The blood of the newly born calf contains no globulin or immune bodies. Colostrum is very rich in globulin and immune bodies. The globulin and immune bodies in colostrum pass into the blood of the newly born calf unchanged in the alimentary canal. These facts, and the further facts that disease and death rate is much higher among animals which do not receive colostrum than it is among those which do receive colostrum indicates that it is essential for newly born calves to get colostrum.
   
2. If the colostrum is infected with pathogenic organisms, these organisms may be inactivated by pasteurization. Pasteurization does not change the properties of colostrum to any appreciable extent provided the pasteurization is done in a water bath thereby avoiding local hot zones. On account of the relatively rapid rise of the temperature coefficient of heat-coagulation of proteins with rise of temperature, the lower pasteurization temperatures offer a wider margin of safety than the higher pasteurization temperatures; 140°F, is the safest temperature for pasteurizing colostrum.
   
3. Pasteurizing colostrum at 140°F. for twenty to thirty minutes does not appreciably change the properties of colostrum and experience shows that calves fed on such pasteurized colostrum get along in every respect as well as calves that are naturally fed, and very much better than calves which received no colostrum.
   
4. The satisfactory method to raise a calf from a cow infected with tuberculosis is therefore to separate the calf from its mother at birth, and feed the calf its mother's pasteurized colostrum during the first two to three days after birth. The colostrum should be pasteurized in a water bath at 145°F. for twenty minutes, or preferably at 140°F. for thirty minutes.