Turning liquid gold into extra farm income

FENNIMORE, Wis. — For Christina Winch, one profitable venture to capitalize on her farm’s assets has been selling colostrum.

Winch and her husband, Peter, their three adult sons and one full-time employee operate Winch’s Pine Grove Farms LP on land that has been in Peter’s family for more than 150 years. Their 250-cow, mixed-breed herd is housed in a freestall barn and milked by four DeLaval robots, a setup they adopted in 2018. Colostrum from first, second and third milkings is marketed to TechMix LLC and processed at the company’s Immuno-Dynamics plant in Fennimore.

The effort to collect colostrum is minimal, Winch said, and it provides supplemental income.

“Any way we can make extra dollars on the farm is beneficial,” Winch said. “After all, we still have to manually milk fresh cows. This adds one small step at the end.”

The colostrum harvested at Pine Grove Farms LP is spray-dried at the plant into a powder for both animal and human consumption.

“Dairy producers have long known the value of colostrum as a super food for their calves,” said Mike Nelson, president and co-owner of TechMix. “Now, demand is growing on the human side as well, and the public is just becoming aware of its benefits.”

TechMix was founded in 1983 in Stewart, Minnesota, as a provider of animal hydration products.

Sometimes called “liquid gold,” colostrum is packed with bioactive compounds like lactoferrin,
proline-rich peptides, and the immunoglobulins IgG and IgA. Research suggests it may help strengthen immunity, improve gut health, reduce inflammation, enhance brain function and skin elasticity, support bone health, and boost athletic performance and recovery.

Immuno-Dynamics has processed colostrum at the Fennimore plant since 1979, with a focus on producing the highest-quality colostrum. TechMix acquired the company in December 2020, a move that enabled TechMix to add new health and wellness ingredient capabilities for both animal and human health. The plant functions as a one-stop shop, handling everything from pasteurization and spray drying to packaging and storage while also recruiting its own patrons and operating a fleet of reefer trucks for pick-up and delivery.

Winch’s Pine Grove Farms LP was among the first dairies to join the producer patron network.

“They came to us and said, ‘This is what we do, and this is what we are looking for,’” Winch said.

She was on board, not just for the extra income, but because she believes in the product’s value. Both she and one of her sons, an athlete, supplement their diets with colostrum.

Over time, Winch said, collection methods and compensation have shifted as Immuno-Dynamics has evolved.

Today, fresh cows at the Winch farm are brought to the robotic milking unit, and the milking setting is switched to manual so colostrum can flow through a hose to a special bucket instead of the bulk tank. The bucket is then lidded and labeled, stored in a chest freezer, and picked up by Immuno-Dynamics drivers. Buckets, labels and freezers are provided by the company.

“The process from cow to freezer is just 10-15 minutes,” Winch said. “This quick turnaround helps to maintain colostrum quality.”

Colostrum is separated into buckets as first milking, second milking or third milking.

“Because colostrum quality goes down as colostrum transitions to milk, we have tiered pricing in which we pay a premium for first milk and less for subsequent milkings,” said Mike Helms, general manager of operations for Immuno-Dynamics. “After the third milking, colostrum does not have the level of bio actives we are looking for.”

While humans can benefit from colostrum, both the producer and the processor in this equation agree that its primary purpose is for newborn calves.

“We believe a calf needs colostrum from its own dam, with antibodies and all the rest of that good stuff,” Winch said. “When a cow calves, we first draw a gallon or so for her calf and then sell the rest.”

The Winches have not had to alter newborn protocol to ensure each calf receives its share of colostrum. They have had plenty to spare.

TechMix sources colostrum from more than 500 dairy farms across the upper Midwest. The plant in Fennimore is on track to process about 3 million pounds of colostrum this year.

“Colostrum processing is regulated as a dietary supplement by the Food and Drug Administration under Current Good Manufacturing Practices,” Helms said.

These regulations cover every aspect, from quality control to process documentation to facility and personnel standards. They ensure dietary supplements are safe and accurately labeled.

As with other raw milk products, colostrum is tested for basic dairy components — solids, pH, antibiotic residue, bacterial counts and pathogens.

Colostrum is pooled for batch processing, filtered, pasteurized and put through the spray dryer. The resulting powder is packaged in 33-pound drums, placed in quarantine and sampled for third-party testing through Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratories Inc. in New Ulm, Minnesota.

Third-party testing verifies not only that the product is safe for human consumption and accurately labeled, but that it meets Immuno-Dynamics’ own quality standards, too, Helms said.

“Our business model is to keep our product as nature designed it,” he said. “Some processors remove components. We aim to preserve the highest level of bio actives possible, confident we’re producing the best quality colostrum … right here in Fennimore.”

This unadulterated product has more than 200 bio actives, along with high-quality proteins and fats, Nelson said.

The powdered colostrum is sold wholesale to brands, which use it in a variety of products, Helms said. It may be packaged in jars as plain or flavored powder, pressed into tablets or capsules, blended into beverages or lozenges or incorporated into topical creams.

While 90% of the colostrum processed by Immuno-Dynamics is dedicated to human consumption, the bovine market holds untapped potential, fueled in part by demand for healthy, dairy-managed calves in the expanding beef-on-dairy sector.

The remaining 10% of colostrum is used in TechMix products, including its scour therapy product and two new offerings launched in the past eight months.

“With the prices of beef and the value of the calf market now, dairy producers use these products for the health of their calves,” Nelson said. “To meet this growing demand, we are ramping up our procurement efforts on the animal side.”

Whether for humans or livestock, demand for colostrum can help the dairy industry.

“We get calls daily about how colostrum changes people’s lives,” Helms said. “But one of the most rewarding parts of our job is helping dairy farmers earn a little supplemental income from something they may have overlooked — or even discarded.”

Nelson agreed.

“We all know dairy producers get beat up all the time,” Nelson said. “This is one way we can partner with them and pay top dollar for a product they have always known is extremely valuable.”