What Colostrum routine do people have~?

oliver bierhoff

Hi all, this is my first year milking cows, my query revolves around the actual practicality of getting the 3 plus litres of colostrum into calves in their first two hours of life. I found that for the first 60% of cows calved i was fairly spot on with most of them getting sufficient colostrum on time, but around five weeks into calving with alot of calves to tend to and still cows calving the wheels fell off and now the new borns dont get nearly as much attention from me and iv slipped into the habit of letting them drink their mother and hoping the got the correct amount, i was stomach tubing them all previously. So in brief how do people manage to keep up this time consuming practice when things get really busy?

Limestone Cowboy

If the calf is sucking it knows when it has enough. If I go with the tube I never give more than 2 litres. That's my routine rightly or wrongly.

jaymla627

oliver bierhoff wrote: »

Hi all, this is my first year milking cows, my query revolves around the actual practicality of getting the 3 plus litres of colostrum into calves in their first two hours of life. I found that for the first 60% of cows calved i was fairly spot on with most of them getting sufficient colostrum on time, but around five weeks into calving with alot of calves to tend to and still cows calving the wheels fell off and now the new borns dont get nearly as much attention from me and iv slipped into the habit of letting them drink their mother and hoping the got the correct amount, i was stomach tubing them all previously. So in brief how do people manage to keep up this time consuming practice when things get really busy?

Calving shed is beside parlour here, so all cows get milked after calving and colostrum is feed to calf in a easy - feeder bottle , might be time consuming but it saves a whole heap of hassle in training in calves to feeder and calf health....
Stomach - tube is a last resort here and only used if calf refuses bottle, hate the sight of them and it's a bad habit to get into reaching for the tube instead of the bottle for a calves first feed

Miname

i usually have the old man defrosting beistings before ive the calf out. they get 2 litres more or less straight away and if they arent lively in another few hours they get another two, but most are sucking by then themselves. sucklers can be a nightmare to milk and by the time i get there leg tied back i find having a frozen reserve is my best option but i usually will make sure the cows spins are right and milk coming because i was caught with blind spins that were bagged up looking and a cow with mastitis that you wouldnt even notice on her. i learnt the hard way beistings are the most important part of suckling anyway.

whelan2

Miname wrote: »

i usually have the old man defrosting beistings before ive the calf out. they get 2 litres more or less straight away and if they arent lively in another few hours they get another two, but most are sucking by then themselves. sucklers can be a nightmare to milk and by the time i get there leg tied back i find having a frozen reserve is my best option but i usually will make sure the cows spins are right and milk coming because i was caught with blind spins that were bagged up looking and a cow with mastitis that you wouldnt even notice on her. i learnt the hard way beistings are the most important part of suckling anyway.

where do you get the biestings to freeze?

Grueller

whelan2 wrote: »

where do you get the biestings to freeze?

If he's like me, rightly or wrongly, off of a dairy neighbour when he has it to spare. I am aware of the health risks this brings but it is less risky than not enough biestings imo.

mf240

Usually hand milk the cow into a jug and bottle feed the calf straight away. up to five litres if they'll take it. Most don't take more than 4 some only take 2 or 3 ..
Usually done within half an hour.

Have stomach tubed one that doesn't suck. Were small fry though if lads are calving 100s then the stomach tube is probably the only way.

mcgyvor

stomach tube should be totally last option imo makes training calf harder and i dont think calf gets same benifet of coloctrum when he is not sucking himself.I usually give calfs a few hours and if not suckling milk cow by hand into speedy feeder and feed calf then leave with cow as long as possible up to 48hrs depending on pressure on calving boxes.

Bullocks

oliver bierhoff wrote: »

Hi all, this is my first year milking cows, my query revolves around the actual practicality of getting the 3 plus litres of colostrum into calves in their first two hours of life. I found that for the first 60% of cows calved i was fairly spot on with most of them getting sufficient colostrum on time, but around five weeks into calving with alot of calves to tend to and still cows calving the wheels fell off and now the new borns dont get nearly as much attention from me and iv slipped into the habit of letting them drink their mother and hoping the got the correct amount, i was stomach tubing them all previously. So in brief how do people manage to keep up this time consuming practice when things get really busy?

How long do you leave the calf with the cow for ? Surely they will suck what they want in the first day or so and if they don't you will notice them looking hungry or not pooping .
Maybe I'm lazy but I don't bottle feed colostrum unless I suspect something wrong

einn32

I've seen a few systems on my travels. From the milking the cow and bottle feeding the calf straight away to letting the calf fend for itself to tubing all heifer calves with frozen colostrum. The system you use depends on numbers really.

I remember research saying that antibodies in colostrum were best absorbed by the calf suckling the mother. Even bottle feeding in the presence of the mother wasn't as good for absorption. Feeding colostrum without the mother present was worst.

patsy_mccabe

Like most people, I'm learning as I go.
Sucklers here and I try and let cows calf on there own. Give them plenty of time. I try and get the calf to stand up straight away as I find that once it stands it is far quicker to try and suck on it's own then.
If calf is weak, I will put cow in crush, slide back lower bar and hold calf up, either over my knee or across a small bale of straw. If they don't suck then I will gave then another hour till the hunger kicks in. If I want to go to bed , I might milk the cow and feed a litre or so with the teat bottle feeder.
I've gone away from the stomach tube as it's easy enough to drown a very weak calf.

I also got caught out this year by not having frozen beastings, so I plan to take some from now on, from early calving cows with a lot of milk.

ganmo

einn32 wrote: »

I've seen a few systems on my travels. From the milking the cow and bottle feeding the calf straight away to letting the calf fend for itself to tubing all heifer calves with frozen colostrum. The system you use depends on numbers really.

I remember research saying that antibodies in colostrum were best absorbed by the calf suckling the mother. Even bottle feeding in the presence of the mother wasn't as good for absorption. Feeding colostrum without the mother present was worst.

i recall that research too, but there's more to it than just that. The order of immunity absorption is suckling from mother is best, suckling from bottle not far behind and then the tube.

Miname

whelan2 wrote: »

where do you get the biestings to freeze?

I get it off two local dairy lads, both good operators with decent health records. i know theres still the risk of diseases, the main one being johnes; but its better than them getting no beistings. And with all the best will in the world i'm not going to start trying to get beistings out off animals whose priimary focus is trying to kick me about the place. dont get me wrong i get the odd one but most would have just about enough for their own calf, those that do, dont be too fond of letting the milk down and the rest are usually killers. im part time farming and dont have the time to be messing around . the bottle colostrum is overpriced and pure muck anyways.

Miname

whelan2 wrote: »

where do you get the biestings to freeze?

I get it off two local dairy lads, both good operators with decent health records. i know theres still the risk of diseases, the main one being johnes; but its better than them getting no beistings. And with all the best will in the world i'm not going to start trying to get beistings out off animals whose priimary focus is trying to kick me about the place. dont get me wrong i get the odd one but most would have just about enough for their own calf, those that do, dont be too fond of letting the milk down and the rest are usually killers. im part time farming and dont have the time to be messing around . the bottle colostrum is overpriced and pure muck anyways.

einn32

ganmo wrote: »

i recall that research too, but there's more to it than just that. The order of immunity absorption is suckling from mother is best, suckling from bottle not far behind and then the tube.

Also what quality is the colostrum you are giving? Anything that's under 20% here with a refractometer is dumped or fed to older calves.

boggerman1

Every calf here is stomach tubed for ease and convenience.3litres per calf.we would have have about 15 bottles on storage in the deep freezer,plus a couple of yrs ago bought a cheap and small fridge from Argos to have a couple of milk carton's ready to go.wouldn't go back to trying to wait for the calf to suck

stanflt

boggerman1 wrote: »

Every calf here is stomach tubed for ease and convenience.3litres per calf.we would have have about 15 bottles on storage in the deep freezer,plus a couple of yrs ago bought a cheap and small fridge from Argos to have a couple of milk carton's ready to go.wouldn't go back to trying to wait for the calf to suck

Every calf stomach tubes for first 3 milkings

Calf gets mothers colostrum

No diseases in calves and my stock seem to do fine

jfh

Work full time off farm myself, do try to get a bottle of milk down calf after hand milking cow, but that depends on how quiet she is, should say sucklers. Tbh was better with the first few calvers.
Normally I see calf up suckling after a couple of hours anyway, I know according to research it should be straight away, but trying to milk a mad limousin isn't easy

50HX

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Like most people, I'm learning as I go.
Sucklers here and I try and let cows calf on there own. Give them plenty of time. I try and get the calf to stand up straight away as I find that once it stands it is far quicker to try and suck on it's own then.
If calf is weak, I will put cow in crush, slide back lower bar and hold calf up, either over my knee or across a small bale of straw. If they don't suck then I will gave then another hour till the hunger kicks in. If I want to go to bed , I might milk the cow and feed a litre or so with the teat bottle feeder.
I've gone away from the stomach tube as it's easy enough to drown a very weak calf.

I also got caught out this year by not having frozen beastings, so I plan to take some from now on, from early calving cows with a lot of milk.

do the same here with the lower bar of teh crush if they are not drinking within an hour

caught for time this yera badly so all cows milked and get 1-*2 litre into a bottle and nipple fed

all bar one case they drank away themselves again after

pre calving mineral/bolous is a big help since i started using it 3 years ago

breed helps as well

KYA calves are nearly coming out standing up:D

haven't gone near a tube in years...find calf gets plenty then sleeps for ages after and then it's a watching game then to see does he drink hours later

a lot depends on your amount of time available

thegreatgonzo

We've a small suckler herd so we have the time to spend getting the calf to suck from mammy:-)
Just in case though I get biestings from a dairy farmer I know each year who has a really clean healthy herd and I have a refractometer that I use as well. We'll usually have an idea which one is going to need the biestings so we might start defrosting it when her water bag comes out. I just give 2 litres shortly after birth with the tube and another 2 if necessary a few hours later. Maybe I'm wrong but 3 litres seems like a lot to force on a newborn all at once.

50HX

Just in case though I get biestings from a dairy farmer I know each year who has a really clean healthy herd and I have a refractometer

whats the refractometer for and how does it work

thegreatgonzo

It measures the solid content of the biestings which is where the IgG antibodies are. It looks like a little telescope with a glass slide where you put the drop of biestings on. You look through the eye piece to see what percentage solids are in the sample. Anything below 22% would be poor quality. I put ordinary milk in it for the craic and I think it was 8% or something.
I got mine at cost price because I work for a vet so I don't know how much they are to buy. Think I paid 60.

thegreatgonzo

50HX wrote: »

J

whats the refractometer for and how does it work

This is the one I got:
http://labstock.ie/bovin-colostrum-refractometer/

I wasn't quite correct when i said less than 22% was poor quality, according this it's still ok just not great.