The use of colostrum preserved with formalin for rearing calves

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to examine the use of formalin-treated colostrum as a diet for young calves. Calves were reared on either whole milk, colostrum or preserved colostrum in the first experiment, and on whole milk or preserved colostrum in the second experiment. The preserved colostrum diet contained 0.1 per cent formalin, and all diets were offered at 12 per cent of liveweight daily. Preserved colostrum was stored for up to 24 days and storage losses were 16 per cent. It was generally acceptable to calves, did not influence the incidence of scouring, but reduced liveweight gain (P < 0.05, experiment 1). However, the mean difference in total liveweight gain over 28 days for calves reared on whole milk or preserved colostrum was only 1.4 kg. It was considered that formalin treatment offers a low cost means of preserving surplus colostrum, thereby improving its utilization for calf rearing on dairy farms.