The Importance of the Calf's First Meal

By Mike Schuldt, MSU Extension, Custer County

The importance of colostrum as the first meal for a newborn is well known in all species; however, the importance of timing has been a topic of research. Dr. Brian Vander Ley, University of Nebraska Veterinary Epidemiologist, recently shared information on timing. Colostrum serves as a loan of immunity from its mother until the calf has time to build its own. The small intestine absorbs the antibodies and is most efficient at this for the first four hours after birth. After this window permeability of the intestine changes and the large antibodies cannot be absorbed as well.

Some of the immunity is short lived which makes it critically important to receive the passive transfer from the cow in the form of colostrum. Without this, the calf is without protection for about two weeks as it builds its own immunity; two weeks risking disease.

Ensuring your cows are prepared to produce adequate colostrum is just as important as their calves receiving it. Body condition scores are the top indicators. It is important that cows be in good condition, at least a five, in order to give birth more quickly. Cows in good condition make better colostrum and their calves get up and nurse faster because they're stronger and tend to have better immune function. Those aren't the calves to worry about...it's the calves you help bring into the world.

If you're going to assist with a delivery, then you better go through the trouble of making sure the calf gets colostrum. If that calf isn't standing in a half hour and nursing, then Dr. Vander Ley recommends that you put the cow back in the chute and milk out the colostrum to be bottle fed to the calf. This is the best opportunity to ensure the calf gets the full benefit from the colostrum. While there is still absorptive capacity up to 24 hours, the most optimal timeframe is four hours. After that, their ability to absorb quickly declines.

Nursing or bottle feeding is better than tubing. Calves have a reflex pathway called the esophageal groove. Whenever a calf nurses, it's the reflex response in their forestomach that creates "a straight shot from the esophagus to the small intestine." In the case of tubing the reflex doesn't happen. Tubing causes the colostrum to pool in their rumen or in the forestomach, so they don't access all of it.

Nursing a bottle is preferred to tubing if possible, however not all calves are up for it. In that case, it's better to get the colostrum in the calf. He shared this piece of advice: "One of my favorite sayings is 'don't let perfect be the enemy of good,'" This is a great time to apply that concept.

If you are going to tube, there are two things to avoid. One is tubing a calf on its side, where a bad event is much more likely. Sit the calf up so its "sternal" side or chest is touching the ground. The other error would be stretching a calf's neck out so that the tip of the tube naturally wants to go into the trachea. Proper technique is bending the calf's head as much as 90 degrees to the right, which lets the tip of the tube bypass the trachea and go into the esophagus on the left side of the calf's throat.

It is always best to use the calf's mother's colostrum because she makes as close to perfect the antibodies that her calf needs. If you can't get the milk from the cow, replacer products are better than supplements. Replacer is made from dried colostrum from dairy cows, while supplements are often sourced from plasma from slaughter plants. Both have useable antibodies, but replacers are the better choice. Read the label of replacer products to make sure you give the calf an adequate amount. Most products recommend 100 to 120 grams of antibody for adequate passive transfer, but that can take two packages of a colostrum replacer.

Research indicates calves that don't get enough passive transfer have more weaning problems like scours and infections along with higher incidence of respiratory disease at the feed yard. Four hours comes and goes quickly for each calf, but this is the window that gets your calves off to the right start.

This information was presented by Dr. Brian Vander Ley at the Range Beef Cow Symposium in Nebraska in November and in a recent webinar sponsored by MSU Extension.