Colostrum is crucial for a newborn calf, to provide instant energy and temporary immunity to help resist diseases he will encounter. Calves with failure of passive transfer (calves that don’t absorb adequate levels of antibodies from colostrum) are at much greater risk for illness and death in the first three months of life.
Dr. Lisa Gamsjaeger, University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, has worked with many critical-care newborns. “We see some very sick calves that didn’t get adequate colostrum. It can be difficult to come up from behind and fight infections when…
