Colostrum and Tube Feeding Calves

Colostrum is very important for the health and survival of newborn calves.  It allows them to fight off disease that can curb their thriftiness and growth.  Experts believe that calves > 80 lbs of body weight should receive four quarts of high quality colostrum within two hours of birth. Don Sockett, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, recommends producers should allow their calves to nurse from a bottle for roughly 10 minutes and everything they don’t drink in 10 minutes should be tube fed. 

In general a calf should be tube fed electrolytes when it has a weak suckling reflex and/or has difficulty rising without assistance, Sockett says. “Producers should avoid tube feeding milk or calf milk replacer in all calves that are 5 days of age and older because studies have shown that a single feeding of as little as 1.0 liter of milk causes ruminal acidosis, and repeated tube feeding of milk over time will cause D-lactic acidosis.”

Colostrum should be delivered at calf body temperature, roughly 102° F. The most consistent problem seen in tube feeding is aspiration pneumonia.   Consequently, correct tube placement is critical to avoid aspiration pneumonia.  Ideally, if one can have one hand on the neck with the fingers holding on to the trachea, and the other hand holding on to the feeder.  Without tipping the feeder up try to feel the bulb of the feeder passing your fingers into the esophagus.  If you don't feel the bulb pass your fingers, back it up and try again.  It is also important to try not to force the colstrum or milk replacer to fast.

Next sanitation is critcal to avoid contamination of the feeder and to the calf.  The following are common cleaning errors seen:

• Rinsing tube feeders with scalding hot water, but not washing them.
• Washing them in warm (not hot) water with no detergent, maybe a little bleach, and no brushing.
• Not letting them completely dry between uses. Because of these errors, experts recommend that before every use the tube feeder be rinsed with a hot, strong bleach solution.

picture and excerpts courtesy of bovine veterinarian.com