The Importance of Colostrum Management in Newborn Calves

Abstract

Colostrum is a special and important type of milk that should be ingested by newborn calves in order to produce immunity against diseases in the first 28 days of life. Giving colostrum to calves is the most important factor for calf survival and maintaining health. In many countries, one of the most important reason for calf deaths is inadequate intake of colostrum. A newborn calf should ingest approximately 5% body weight of colostrum in the first 6 hours as first meal and in the first day, this amount should be 10% of body weight in the first 3-4 meals. Passive transfer failure occurs when the neonatal calves do not ingest adequate and suitable colostrum as stated time and amounts. Besides, passive transfer failure also leads to low intake of antibodies in the calves. This condition leads to increase in death rates, and losses associated with calf health, welfare and productivity. Therefore, a successful colostrum management programme is necessary for decreasing neonatal calf deaths and increasing immunity against diseases. The purpose of this study is to give detailed information related with maintaining and monitoring an effective colostrum programme, as well as discussing the relations between neonatal diseases and important components of colostrum. © 2019 Ataturk Universitesi. All rights reserved.