The ideal calving situation is to have an unassisted delivery, the calf getting "its bearings" and nursing within an hour or two of birth.
February 27, 2019
If you want to know about colostrum research—at least the kind that involves milking beef cows—Brian Vander Ley, DVM, could tell you some colorful stories.
“Invariably you’re going to have a few who don’t appreciate the process,” he says.
The work can be hard to get at, but the University of Missouri (MU) veterinarian is part of a team hoping to advance the study.
Scientists believe calves’ earliest nutrition could do a lot more than just provide an energy-dense meal and protective antibodies to newborn animals.
“The other things we don’t think about as much are growth factors and hormones,” says MU animal scientist Allison Meyer, Ph.D. “There is even some emerging research showing that there are maternal cells in colostrum that may be important for newborn health.”
Meyer cites swine work done by Skip Bartol, Ph.D., at Auburn University, where he has developed the “lactocrine hypothesis.”
“We have always known that growth factors in colostrum are really important for gut development,” she says, “but this shows there are parts of colostrum that are helping with development of other organs after the animal is born.”
Although it’s not proven, she suspects the same happens in beef cattle.
Even without knowing all the indirect benefits that come from the transfer of proteins and white blood cells, Dr. Vander Ley says, “There’s a lot of evidence showing that the colostrum primes the immune system.”
It’s not just about early immunity, but about disease resistance throughout the animal’s lifetime. That in itself could be related to performance at the feedyard and on the rail.