Colostrum Keeps Baby Animals Healthy

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Colostrum is more important for lambs, like this Jacob, than humans, because we are passively immunized in the womb, while farm animals are not. iStockphoto.com/Chris Price

While their cuteness is undisputed, baby animals are also incredibly vulnerable. In the fight to keep any sort of livestock alive, one of the most challenging times is right after birth. The world outside their mothers is full of dangers: predators, birth complications and disease. Anything you can do to help newborns make that transition is a plus, and an incredibly important tool in your arsenal is “first milk” or colostrum. Studies have shown calves that consume enough colostrum are more likely to live past their first birthday, and even some adult problems can be traced to not getting appropriate amounts of colostrum. What is it about this lovely stuff that makes such a difference?

Colostrum is the milk that pretty much all mammalian mothers make the first days after giving birth. It is made up of all sorts of good things. It has extra vitamins, minerals, protein and fats. It’s also lower in lactose than normal milk (making it easier to digest), and the iron content is 10 to 17 times higher. Colostrum also acts as a laxative to help the newborn’s intestines learn to do as nature intended. All of these traits help get a youngster started in the best possible way. For example, lambs are born with low vitamin A, and, to compensate, sheep colostrum is unusually rich in vitamin A.

One of colostrum’s most important functions and the main reason it’s so important for the health of offspring has to do with immunity and fighting disease. An animal’s immune system (as well as yours) creates molecules called “antibodies” to fight disease. Different antibodies are made to combat each disease. Vaccination is all about inducing the creation of these antibodies against a particular disease. A weakened or dead pathogen (such as bacteria or viruses) is introduced (by shot, mouth or inhaler), and the body reacts by creating antibodies, so it’s prepared should it ever come across the live pathogen later in life. A living body creating antibodies for a particular disease is called “Active Immunity.”