Crucial colostrum

LODI, Wis. — How calves are raised has a direct impact on how productive they can be as a cow. Craig Carncross is helping get calves started on the right foot with his nursery and the ColoQuick colostrum management system.

Carncross milks 425 Holstein cows at Wargo Acres near Lodi. The herd has a rolling herd average of about 34,000 pounds of milk with tests of 4.3% butterfat and 3.4% protein.

Managing colostrum and ensuring calves are receiving it in a timely manner is not a new concept in the dairy industry, but getting it done correctly each and every time is a challenge. For Carncross, utilizing a system like ColoQuick that produces a way to uniformly thaw and heat colostrum for optimal quality has been aiding his goal of giving the best possible product at the calf’s first feeding.

“When we have our onboarding of our calf feeders, I make sure they know how important these first 24 hours are,” Carncross said. “With our protocols in place, and with the ColoQuick system as part of that, we have seen a lot of successes with our youngstock program.”

The youngstock program at Wargo Acres features a calf nursery built in 2019. Calves are placed in pens with straw bedding. Carncross feeds newborns three times a day, providing a gallon of colostrum at the first feeding, followed by a second and third feeding at intervals of 8–10 hours. Calves receive between 1-2 liters for the second two feedings.

This protocol, along with bi-weekly lung ultrasounds has helped Carncross and his dairy stay ahead of potential health issues.

“If we see a high lung score, we can treat the calf before it turns into a problem,” Carncross said. “We’ll see an improvement afterward with how fast the calf will drink, but before seeing the score, we didn’t even notice anything was wrong.”

The colostrum system at Wargo Acres helps get the first feeding in the calf’s stomach within 30 minutes of being born. Delivering these antibodies early can lead to a healthier future.

“When we get the calf moved back into the nursery, we can have the colostrum ready to feed,” Carncross said. “The calf is placed in the clean pen and can be fed immediately. That kind of speed helps make our employees efficient so we can have the same guys moving cows to the parlor that are also checking on the maternity pens.”

With the investment in genetics into dairy herds, having high-quality colostrum available for calves — heifers and bulls alike — has taken on a new level of importance.

Typically, colostrum is harvested, measured for quality, frozen and stored for later use if the quality is high enough. As quality varies, building a colostrum storage and management process has become more pivotal in the furthering of Wargo Acres.

“We store our high-quality colostrum in a chest freezer,” Carncross said. “We want to see heifer calves get four liters of colostrum with a Brix score of 25 or above. I like seeing 30. Four liters with that colostrum at 30 gives the calves almost 600 (immunoglobulins). We’ll use the lower-scored colostrum for the second feedings, and we’ll use commercial product if we need to improve the quality of our colostrum for those later feedings.”

A colostrum management system also allows for more timely feedings Carncross said. Instead of waiting to bring the newly freshened cow to the milking barn, they can provide a feeding to the calf potentially hours before a feeding would have been available without the system.

“When a calf is born, our process is to dip the navel and start prepping our nursery for the arrival of a new calf,” Carncross said. “We’ll start thawing a cartridge of colostrum, and by the time we bring the calf in, we have a feeding ready to go.”

The ColoQuick system features a plastic cartridge large enough for a single feeding of colostrum. To start the process, the person managing the calf feeding loads the cartridge in the system and initiates the thawing process. The system submerges the cartridge in warm water and rotates it to bring the temperature up to 107 degrees. This provides a uniform thaw, preserving the nutrients for the calf.

“This system has been really helpful for us,” Carncross said. “It helps us limit the number of variables that can cause illnesses in our calves.”

Prior to using the system, Carncross said each person working with the calves thawed colostrum their own way. This made it tough to pinpoint issues. Now, everyone who handles the calves keep the same protocols and uniformity, a feature Carncross said he enjoys.

“Before this system, we would have people thaw the colostrum in extremely hot water, or we’d feed it when the colostrum was too cold,” Carncross said. “We stored in the fridge for a bit too, but we kept seeing inconsistencies with our temperature of when we fed or packaged. This system helps us be consistent with how we feed our calves.”

The system is helping Carncross’s youngstock get the highest quality colostrum available no matter who is in charge of calves that day.

“The simplicity of this process is the best part,” Carncross said. “I can teach someone once, and the next time they can step in and do it themselves. This helps us provide the highest quality colostrum to set calves up for success.”