Toby, and all---
I have been having a hard time posting to the list.  I'm not sure if this
got through last time I tried to send it.

Last summer we were visiting a kibbutz in Israel that has a dairy.  We were
invited for coffee with a family.  The father in the house ran the dairy.
I asked him about this because when I was a kid we had friends who had a
dairy farm here in the states and they told me that they always made sure
each calf got it's own mother's colostrum or they did not grow up to be
healthy cows. What he told me was that they made sure each calf got
colostrum but not their own mother's.  He said that they found that the
calves did better on pooled colostrum.  He explained that if a certain line
of cows had a "weakness" the pooled colostrum gave the calf protection
against that trait whereas colostrum from it's own mother would only make
that weakness worse.

Interesting, huh?

I'd be happy to privately email the name of the kibbutz if any of you
Israeli's want to check it out.

Any responses-please send privately and to the list. Thanks

Barbara Leshin-Zucker, IBCLC
Breastfeeding Coordinator
Morrisania WIC, Bronx, NY