March 2025
Colostrum
Why is colostrum important?
Calves and lambs are born with no antibodies and rely on the antibodies in colostrum being absorbed into the blood within the first hours of life.
What happens when colostrum isn’t managed well?
When a newborn doesn’t get enough colostrum or doesn’t get sufficient quality colostrum in the right time period, they will not have enough antibodies absorbed into the blood. This is called failure of passive transfer (FPT) and one study showed that 1/7 suckler calves had complete failure of passive transfer and 1/3 suckler calves had partial failure of passive transfer. (https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/colostrum-management-for-suckler-calves) Failure of passive transfer massively increases the risk of diseases such as watery mouth in lambs and pneumonia in calves.
5 Qs of colostrum:
1 Quickly - As soon as the calf/lamb is born the colostrum quality starts declining rapidly. Not only this but the guts will only stay open to allow antibody absorption for the first 12 hours of life, after this they close. The first feed of colostrum should be as soon as possible after birth, within the first 2 hours of life.
2 Quantity - Suckler calves should have 4 liters (10% bodyweight) in the first feed, and a second feed of a similar size within the first 12 hours. Lambs should have 200ml in the first feed, and 800ml within the first 12 hours.
3 Quality - Colostrum quality is essential to ensure enough antibodies are absorbed.
Quality can be influenced by a number of factors but the main ones are:
Dams body condition
Dams diet during pregnancy
Time passed since birth
Colostrum quality can be tested using a brix refractometer, it needs to be above 26.5% in sheep and 21% in cattle. Alternatively, they can be tested with colostroballs in cattle, the better quality the colostrum the more balls float to the surface.
4 Quantify - This is an optional step in the 5Qs. Calves/lambs can be tested for failure of passive transfer with blood sampling to look at antibody content.
5 sQeaky clean - Colostrum needs to be kept as clean as possible by:
Harvesting with clean hands or gloves
Keeping all equipment clean
Sterilizing stomach tubes between uses
Defrosting the colostrum gently, when thawing it must be thawed at 35- 40°C in a warm water bath to slowly defrost without killing the antibodies. It should never be microwaved or put in boiling water.
Cleaning the udder before harvesting, any dirt, especially proteins e.g. feces and wool will cause the gut to start closing and decrease antibody absorption.
Colostrum can be kept in the fridge and used within 3 days, alternatively it can be frozen and used within 12 months. Potassium sorbate is a food preservative which can be added into colostrum, to enable it to be kept in the fridge for up to 7 days as it inhibits further bacterial growth. It is recommended you make a colostrum protocol before the start of lambing/calving that all farm staff can follow. If you have any questions or concerns regarding colostrum management do not hesitate to contact us.
Annual Prescription Visits
When ordering drugs for lambing and calving, please remember that we need to have been on farm in the last twelve months. An annual vet visit requires us to see the stock and discuss relevant health and welfare issues. Government funding is available for this visit and can be applied for under an ‘Annual Health and Welfare Review’ via RPA. A VAN number or Red Tractor audit can also be completed at the same time.
Should I drench my ewes at lambing?
Test Don’t Guess!
Adult sheep carry a natural immunity to gut worm burdens and therefore should not require routine worming treatments. In fact, routine worming of adult sheep will increase the speed of wormer resistance developing on your farm. Where there is an issue with underlying disease in the ewes, such as lameness, gut worms may cause a secondary issue. Haemonchus (barber pole worm) can also be introduced to flocks through biosecurity, a worm which all ages of sheep can be susceptible to. Liver fluke is also predicted to have been a high-risk this season, depending if you have suitable environmental conditions on your farm. Faecal egg counts are easily performed to determine if treatment is required. Just hold 10-15 ewes in a pen for 10- 15 minutes or feed on clean concrete, then collect the faeces whist still warm. It is important that the samples are individually bagged to allow accurate pooling of the test. Our in-house faecal egg counts can check for worms and fluke. A vet will report the results and provide bespoke, independent advice.
Help I’ve got a scouring calf!
Picture from ‘Farmers weekly’
Isolate: Calf scours can be highly infectious, so it is important to isolate a scouring calf ASAP (with the dam if a suckler calf), to reduce the contamination of the pen, and risk of infection to the other calves.
Diagnosis: There are many different causes of calf scour, which differ depending on the age of the calf. No scour can be diagnosed from appearance alone, so it is important to collect a sample for testing. We advise sampling the first scouring calf, rather than waiting to see if an outbreak occurs, as an early diagnosis could result in preventative treatment for the other calves, preventing production losses. Ideally collect a sample in a clean jar or a sample pot can be collected from our surgeries. We need at least a heaped tablespoon of faeces for testing. Use your finger or a thermometer to stimulate the passage of faeces and have your container to hand to collect the sample. Remember to wear gloves and wash your hands thoroughly after handling scouring calves as some infections can be passed onto us!
Treatment: All scouring calves require oral hydration. Use a sachet, such as Hydrafast, mixed in 2 litres of warm water, twice a day. We also have Charcogel syringes that can be used early to help line the gut wall and bind any toxins. Recofast can also be used to help slow gut transit time, allowing more liquid to be absorbed from the gut contents. Neither of these products can be used within an hour of oral fluids. Calf jackets are useful when the calf is off colour to ensure they don’t have to expend energy to keep warm, instead spending energy on recovery. Anti-inflammatories may be indicated to help reduce the pain associated with gut spasms or reduce temperatures. Oral antibiotics are now considered unhelpful as they are more likely to upset the gut flora further and most of the causes of calf scours are not bacterial. Injectable antibiotics may be indicated where we are concerned about septicaemia. Please discuss individual cases with vets for specific treatment advice.
Control: Diagnosis is crucial to provide correct advice on effective preventative measures. Dam vaccination can be used to provide immunity through colostrum for certain causes and specific disinfection protocols may also be advised to control infections.