The Good Stuff

When a calf is born, the momma's udders are filled with colostrum.  Colostrum is truly the good stuff.  It is filled with antibodies and nutrients needed for growth.  It is so important that baby calves get this into their system.  It's God's elixir of beneficial goodness giving the baby a good start on life.  It gives energy and promotes health.

It is vital that the calf gets this.  We give the momma and the calf a little space while the calf figures out this new world that they are now inhabitants of.  Betsy stood up on spindly legs, wobbling this way and that and instincts took over.  She ambled toward LuLu and began looking for the teats on the udder.  She started at the wrong end and we tried to guide her.  When she almost had it, LuLu moved.  We opted to bring them both to the barn and give LuLu some sweet feed and alfalfa while we positioned Betsy on the right end and tipped a teat toward her mouth.  Betsy got after it with a sucking reflex.  First slow and then vigorous! 

The next morning we saw what we wanted to see - colostrum poop!  It is a bright orange-yellowish gooey poop.  That is evidence that Betsy got the good stuff in her.

We found more evidence on the ground and this signified that she got a good amount of it.  She no longer needed our urging or assistance, finding the teats on her own and sucking the udder down.

The udder looks big and swollen, but LuLu's milk hasn't come in until a few days later.  The first days, the milk supply comes in.  For right now, it's primarily colostrum.  That's what Betsy needs.  Before the colostrum supply dwindles as it's replaced with milk, we always milk out the colostrum after Betsy has enjoyed her fill.

We take the colostrum in that is strained through a filter and into a stainless steel bucket.  Betsy got hers.  Now we'll borrow a little from her for our use.

Colostrum is good for the calf, but it's good for humans, too.  It's filled with good stuff -immunoglobulins to help keep infections at bay.  So many benefits that it is marketed to athletes for a number of things like endurance and muscle growth and repair.  We've tried to drink it straight, but to be honest, I don't like the taste and the consistency is "oily" to me.  We pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it.

We'll add it to fruit smoothies with cinnamon and drink it down until we've exhausted our supply.  Sometimes we'll save some to bottle feed calves to make sure they get the good stuff so that they have a good start.