Don’t let bacteria ruin your colostrum

“The growth of bacteria in warm colostrum is enormous,” Nicolien indicates. “If colostrum is left for two hours, the number of bacteria has increased by a factor of 32. If you feed this, you are giving a calf pathogens in addition to the desired antibodies. That is of course not the intention.” With these tips you can keep the colostrum as free as possible from unwanted germs:

Let the colostrum cool down as quickly as possible

• Remove the warm colostrum from the bucket as quickly as possible and put it in clean bottles in the refrigerator.

Clean boiler / dump bucket

• Include your boiler in the rinsing program of your milking machine.
• Include the dump bucket in the rinsing program of the robot when milking with robots or clean it manually yourself with the cleaning agent of your robot.

Think of bottles, probes and teats

• Also take a critical look at your bottles, probes, teat buckets and teats. In practice, these can quickly become a source of contamination. How does that work for you?
• Soak the probe, bottles, teat buckets and teats preferably after each use in warm water with a cleaner, such as the cleaning agent from your milking parlour or milking robot. Rinse the materials well afterwards and hang them up clean.

Tips for the mini-milker

The mini-milker is a handy way to milk a cow quickly after calving. With these tips you ensure that it does not become a source of contamination:

• Have your mini-milker checked annually. This way you can be sure that the vacuum level is correct and that the pulsators are working properly.
• Always clean the mini milker manually with warm water after use.
• Clean your mini milker daily with the cleaning agent from your milking parlour or milking robot.

View all of Johan’s tips for milking colostrum here: