Have you said or heard someone say, “Yeah, we have diarrhea in the calves, but they get over it quickly.” Do they? How bad can a few “bad days” really be? However, what if we were to tell you that the duration of diarrhea is linked to decreased growth rates and reduced milk production in the first lactation? It matters a whole lot more than we give it credit for.

Supplementing calves with colostrum after the first day of life can reduce the duration of diarrhea and possibly improve survival rates during high disease pressures. This article details the benefits of colostrum for older calves and how it can be integrated into calf management plans.