Colostrum cleanliness key

ROCHESTER, Minn. — When it comes to colostrum, Jim Salfer, University of Minnesota Extension educator, said the saying, “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” is applicable.

“Cleanliness is important in any system,” Salfer said.

Salfer and other extension staff presented at the University of Minnesota Extension Calf Care Workshop held July 29 at the 240-cow Borst Family Dairy near Rochester.

Salfer and Brad Heins, the extension state specialist who manages the West Central Research and Outreach Center organic dairy in Morris, focused on colostrum during their presentation.

Keeping colostrum clean was their No. 1 tip for attendees. The pair said one common contamination point is the buckets in which the milk is harvested, which can be difficult to clean.

Pasteurization is sometimes part of a colostrum management system; however, pasteurization does not fix poor management, Salfer said. Pasteurization is not required if the colostrum is clean and a dairy is not dealing with transferable diseases such as Johne’s disease.

“Pasteurization is good,” he said. “(But) you can’t pasteurize (manure). Some people think, ‘I can do anything (because) it’s pasteurized.’ …  (Actually) keeping it clean is really important.”

Another colostrum management area discussed was storage.

For colostrum being stored for extended periods, Salfer recommends a first-in, first-out system. Colostrum should not be stored for more than 32 weeks because it will progressively lose its immunoglobulin levels.

Salfer said colostrum in the refrigerator should be stored in bags or something that allows the colostrum to cool quickly. Colostrum stored in a bucket will cool too slowly. Salfer said that at 80 degrees, bacteria will double every 20 minutes.

Heins said if colostrum is not fed immediately, it should be refrigerated within 30 minutes.

“It’s still going to increase in bacteria number if there’s bacteria in … wherever you’re storing it,” Heins said. “You probably want to feed it within a couple of days, because otherwise bacterial load might increase. That may in itself cause some scours issues, depending on the cleanliness.”

The pair also spoke on colostrum quality.

Heins recommends farmers test their colostrum with a refractometer to determine immunoglobulin levels and serum protein levels. Colostrum should be a 19 Brix IgG or higher.

“It takes a lot of supplement to equate to getting it up higher than 19,” Heins said. “If you’re at a 17, you will need to add a lot of colostrum replacer to it, to make it really high quality. You’re going to get maybe 18 or 20.”

Calf serum protein levels should be over five. Heins said farmers should consider culling calves with serum protein levels five or below.

“(In research) if a calf was below five, they produced about 2,000 pounds less milk in first lactation,” Heins said. “If you were a six or seven for serum protein, it didn’t really affect production.”

For colostrum with 19-22 Brix, Heins recommends feeding it to bull calves or dairy-beef calves.

“You’re going to get at least $100-$200 more if they’re healthy,” Heins said. “Even if you sell them to a local sales barn, they can tell almost instantaneously how healthy they are.”

The calf care seminars also included information about calf handling and dehorning.

Dr. Lindsey Borst, DVM, walked through Borst Family Dairy’s dehorning protocols.

Dr. Marcia Endres, DVM, professor and dairy specialist at the University of Minnesota, also presented during the seminar.

Endres said, according to the National Farmers Assuring Responsible Management Animal Care Version 5 program, farmers are now required to disbud by 8 weeks of age as well as use some type of pain management.

“(Not using pain management) is no longer accepted by the consuming public of our products,” she said. “They really require that we reduce pain in calves.”

Borst Dairy’s disbudding protocol begins feeding before disbudding, when the calves receive Meloxicam, which lasts about 48 hours.

Before disbudding, calves are restrained. Then, a second pain reliever is administered in the form of a cornual nerve block. To ensure the disbudding agent makes good contact with the bud they also clip around the bud area.

Finally, they use about a dime-sized worth of dehorning paste on each horn bud, then the buds are covered by duct tape to ensure good contact for several hours.

Paste or hot iron burning are two acceptable disbudding methods for FARM. Borst said there are pros and cons to each method. Both methods, when done at a young age and with pain mitigation, are less stressful and painful disbudding methods for calves.

She said that while there is some new research showing that burning at a young age results in faster healing compared to paste, some producers do not like dealing with the hot iron and the smoke from this method.

However, Borst said the paste does have the risk of horns coming back or eye damage from the caustic paste if not done correctly.

The various presenters also discussed pair housing versus group housing. Heins said he is a proponent of feeding calves in group housing of five or more calves versus pair housing.

“Individual, obviously, you grow good calves,” he said. “Pairs, in my mind, it doesn’t save any labor.”

However, Endres said there are benefits to pair housing.

“It does help socialization, because at least they see one more calf,” Endres said.

Borst said their farm has switched to pair housing for the first 6-7 weeks of life.

“(Before) I was never happy with our performance, post weaning,” she said. “Some of the research on social housing is that, ‘monkey, see, monkey, do.’ They go to starter sooner (and) they eat more.”

Calves at Borst dairy begin weaning at 6 or 7 weeks and move into group housing, where they begin weaning off milk for three weeks on a mob feeder.

Overall, pair housing has worked well for the Borsts.

“It is a good go-between single housing and big group housing,” Borst said. “(They) still get that socialization, but the biosecurity piece of it is way, way easier.”