July 8, 2002 10,13.p65

© 2002 Feedstuffs. Reprinted with permission from Vol. 74, No. 27, July 8, 2002 The practice of feeding pooled waste/ mastitic milk to young calves seems to have increased as dairies have grown larger, creating a larger pool and the means to segregate this milk from saleable milk. This was acknowledged by the authors of the 1996 National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) study (Feedstuffs, Sept. 10, 2001), who noted that the pattern of older age at weaning (beyond eight weeks of age) is consistent with this practice. This leads to a fundamental question: Is it a good practice to feed waste/mastitic milk to young calves? In the late 1970s and early 1980s, research on and the practice of feeding fermented (sour) or acidified colostrum was in vogue. Kesler (1981) reviewed six studies that fed mastitic milk and found mixed results with the incidence of scouring. No milk replacers were fed in these studies, and the role of the calf starter was not considered in this evaluation. Kesler issued three precautions in feeding mastitic milk: (1) delay feeding beyond the first day so as to avoid possible absorption of mastitic microorganisms through the permeable gut, (2) house calves so they cannot suckle each other to avoid increased incidence of mastitis when they become first-calf heifers and (3) avoid feeding to calves intended for meat so as not to have antibiotic residues from the medicines used to treat cows with mastitis. The above period was followed by a high level of interest and research on By AL KERTZ