Colostrum or not?

Help Support CattleToday:

Ruark

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
282
Reaction score
0
Location
Evant, TX
I've had a couple of cows leased on my place (not my cows) give birth in the middle of the night. That got me thinking, since it's apparently critical that calves get their colostrum the first couple of hours after birth, how do you know if they got it or not? When you wake up in the morning and your cow's standing with a newborn calf, would it be advisable to go ahead and give them something like IgG or Colostrx 130 anyway, just in case, or could it be harmful if they really didn't need it? Is there any reason to not just give it to ALL newborns?

Thanks,
Ruark
Evant, TX
 
99.9% of the time the best course of action is to take no action. Observe the cows udder, if it appears to have been sucked then it got colstum. If it takes a gooey sticky looking dump it's gotten it. If the calf doesn;t appear gaunted, it's gotten it. The really critical time is withhe first 24 hours, even if it's 8 hours after birth it's still in the safe time period.
Cows have been doing this kind of thing for a lot of years, if it was a problem with the calves not nursing in time they owuld be extinct
The main thing to remember is to not make things too complex, benign neglect is most often the best choice. There are times that active response is needed, but it's a whole lot less frequent then a lot of people are willing to admit.
 
dun":2eappvo0 said:
The main thing to remember is to not make things too complex

Something I have a tendency to do; I'm sort of a knowledge addict. Good advice, though. "Think twice before doing nothing."
 
I leave them be. I go down and take a photo, but our cattle are very quiet and I go by quad. I also have a pretty good camera so I don't have to go up to the pair to get a photo of them. People have been killed by going near a newborn calf.

If you have a pair of binoculars you can keep an eye on them. You will see the calf drink, or see it cantering around. See those 2 things and you can pretty much relax.
 
Ruark":blzr7pce said:
Is there any reason to not just give it to ALL newborns?
Umm cost would be a pretty good reason to use it sparingly. Any good colostrum replacer is going to run $25-30 a pop. While I wouldn't hesitate to give colostrum replacer to a calf that obviously needs it, there is no way I would be running after 10, 20, 100 calves feeding them colostrum just in case.
 
Ruark":29lq5w7y said:
That got me thinking, since it's apparently critical that calves get their colostrum the first couple of hours after birth, how do you know if they got it or not?
Thanks,
Ruark
Evant, TX

Look at the udder. Have you noticed how shiny the tits are before a cow/heifer gives birth? After a calf has nursed the shiny quality will not be there on one tit. Also, one tit will be less engorged than the others will. That is how you know the calf has sucked.
 

Latest posts

Top