Feeding and Mimicking Transition Milk in Calves – Post-Day One, What's New and is There a Return on Investment?

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich is joined by AABP members from the Saskatoon Colostrum Company Limited (SCCL), Dr. Travis White, Director of Veterinary Technical Services, and Dr. Mike Nagorske, Director of Research. This episode is sponsored by SCCL and you can find information about their company on their website. If you are an AABP member interested in calves, we encourage you to join our new ad hoc Cattle Youngstock Committee. The first meal a calf receives is the most important and studies show that previous recommendations of 150 grams of IgG may not be adequate and up to 300 grams of IgG is ideal to ensure health and productivity in calves. White and Nagorske discuss the details of feeding protocols such as dosing regimen, incorporating this feeding with regular milk meals and starter rations. They recommend 70 grams/head/day of replacer to mimic this transition milk feeding for 10-14 days. This can be added to whole milk feeding or with milk replacer if the appropriate weight of milk replacer is removed to ensure the correct osmolality of the as-fed milk. Colostrum replacement products can be used to mimic this transition milk and our guests also remind listeners to be familiar with the differences between colostrum supplements and replacers. Studies conducted by SCCL have demonstrated up to a 50% reduction in preweaning morbidity and mortality and a 0.1 to 0.2 lbs. per day increase in average daily gain. We also discuss the return on investment (ROI) when calves are fed colostrum replacement products during the first 10-14 days to mimic transition milk feeding. The ROI can be up to 20% due to decreased medication use, increased gains pre and post weaning, decreased morbidity and decreased mortality. Overall, producers can expect an investment of $20-30 per calf with the biggest impact from that investment coming from decreased scours. Veterinarians should consider these new protocols to improve calf health and work with producers to implement them on their farms.

Short communication: Effects of transition milk and milk replacer supplemented with colostrum replacer on growth and health of dairy calves
J Dairy Sci https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2020-18361

 Evaluation of the effects of oral colostrum supplementation during the first fourteen days on the health and performance of preweaned calves
J Dairy Sci https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2008-1433

Evaluation of the effects of colostrum replacer supplementation of the milk replacer ration on the occurrence of disease, antibiotic therapy, and performance of pre-weaned dairy calves
J Dairy Sci https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2016-11652

Feeding colostrum or a 1:1 colostrum:milk mixture for 3 days postnatal increases small intestinal development and minimally influences plasma glucagon-like peptide-2 and serum insulin-like growth factor-1 concentrations in Holstein bull calves
J Dairy Sci https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2019-17219