By Brett Terhaar, DVM, Beef Cattle Technical Consultant, Elanco Animal Health

The first 12 hours of a calf’s life are critical to long-term success. What you do now can make the difference in colostrum quality and overall calf health.

While spring calving may still be months away, several factors that affect colostrum quality can be influenced in the fall and early winter. For example, colostrum quality varies widely based on factors such as age of cow, body condition score, disease history and vaccine exposure. Fortunately, producers can positively influence several of these factors. 

Evaluate nutrition and body condition scores

We want cows to calve every 365 days and then return to heat 60 days postpartum, and it is our job to help. That begins with proper nutrition and favorable body condition scores.

If a cow is too thin and has a body condition score of 4 or less, even a mature cow will not return to heat as desired. For first calf heifers, body condition scores are especially critical because of the profound effect low scores can have on postpartum interval (days to first estrus), calving interval and pregnancy rates. Prior to calving, cows should have a body condition score of at least 5, and heifers should have a body condition score of at least 6, recognizing the expectation of after-calving weight loss.

Colostrum quality and yield are negatively affected if cows are young and thin, and having both issues doubles the challenge¹. And colostrum quality doesn’t only affect the health of the calf early in its first month of life. Low quality, or quantity, colostrum can affect health and growth through weaning and on to the feedlot.

Body condition scores should be routinely measured between post-weaning and mid-gestation, beginning in October or early November. Pregnancy checks, completed before Dec. 1, are a great time to further document body condition scores as cattle are moving through the chute. Then, evaluate scores again 60-days prior to calving to get an honest average and determine if your management adjustments moved the needle.

Consistently re-evaluating throughout the fall and early winter, when you still have time to adjust, allows you to note trends and devise a game plan when adjustments are more successfully managed. Once cows calve and start milking, nutrition needs increase by about 30%² and weight gain becomes more difficult.

And cows today are larger. A one-point body condition score for a 1,200-pound cow is equal to about 80 pounds, while it may require 100 pounds to move the needle one point for a 1,500- to 1,600-pound cow. Depending on the deficit, that can translate to one pound of gain per day.

Aim for optimal timing

Properly timed vaccines also help ensure healthy cows.

If we are calving the first of March, we know that colostrogenesis is beginning 6-8 weeks prior, in early- to mid-January. To get the most bang for our buck, we want the vaccine-induced circulating antibodies to be as high as possible in the cow before colostrum production begins and the vaccine needs about four weeks to accomplish that.

With a calving date of March 1 and colostrum production beginning in January, vaccines should be delivered before the middle of December. Timely vaccinations provide more blood circulating antibodies, a higher antibody level in the colostrum and an increased antibody load provided to the calf.

In research studies involving commercial herds, cows receiving a properly timed scour vaccine, like Scour Bos®, had significantly higher antibodies in colostrum. Two Scour Bos vaccine doses increased antibody titers versus the untreated control. Antibody titer in colostrum, which is what is passed onto the calf in higher IgG quantity makes for a healthier calf. And we know a calf’s absorption of colostrum during the first 12 hours is critical to calf health. The amount absorbed by the calf goes down precipitously after those first 12 hours.

Preparing passive immunity protection from scours on day one is critical. Scour Bos may provide comprehensive protection against up to nine antigens for broad-spectrum coverage against the leading causes of scours, while the most flexible administration schedule on the market gives you up to four months pre-calving to integrate Scour Bos into your herd health protocol.

Practice good animal husbandry

Providing a clean is also important. The bacteria and viruses associated with calf scours are transmitted by the fecal-oral route.

Every time a calf absorbs colostrum and the associated antibodies, a deposit is being made in what could be considered the calf’s healthy bank account. But when that calf if exposed to muddy conditions and dirty teats when nursing, the calf absorbs pathogens and manure.

That calf is then making a withdrawal from his colostrum bank account. Calves that receive large quantities of high-quality colostrum are going to fare the best.

Poor environments work against vaccine and body conditioning.

Cows need to be kept dry and warm and out of the wind, spread out so they aren’t in muddy conditions and, once paired, moved out to clean and expansive pastures.

To learn more about how Scour Bos helps ensure calves have a healthy start, contact your herd health veterinarian or Elanco representative. To find a representative, please call 1-800-364-2014.

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¹ Allison M Meyer, Colby A Redifer, Abigail R Rathert-Williams, 109 Dam and calf influences on colostrum yield and quality in beef cattle, Journal of Animal Science, Volume 102, Issue Supplement_3, September 2024, Pages 276–277, https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skae234.318

² NebGuide G2268, Index: Beef Feeding & Nutrition,  October 2015, Supplementation Needs for Gestating and Lactating Beef Cows and Comparing the Prices of Supplement Sources Meredith L. Bremer, Beef Extension Educator Karla H. Jenkins, Cow-Calf, Range Management Specialist

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