Hi all,
A few days ago there were some posts about cow's colostrum being peddled to
humans, and a few people expressed reluctance to take this valuable
substance from its intended recipients, the calves.

Correct me if I am mistaken, you dairymaids out there, but I don't think
many cows in commercial production ever feel a calve's tongue on their
teats, and I believe calves are actually fed on specially designed
artificial, or at least specially processed, milks since all 'their' food
goes into collecting tanks and most ends up on our tables.  Diarrhea is a
common problem.

My dairy farmer friend told me that it was often a problem to get cows to
let down their milk to the machines if the farmer were careless enough to
let them calve unsupervised so that the calf found the teat before they
could separate the two.  They would sometimes have to resort to the very
extreme measure of BRINGING THE CALF INTO THE BARN and having it be IN
PHYSICAL CONTACT with the cow as she was attached to the milking machine,
and then gradually weaning the cow from contact with the calf during
milkings.
This same friend told me that if a calf had diarrhea, he treated the calf
with buttermilk, as that usually re-established a beneficial gut flora.

So if that is the only reason you have not tasted a product based on cow's
colostrum, go ahead, you probably aren't depriving the calf of anything.

BTW, there is a traditional dish here made of cow's colostrum, prepared on
farms in calving season only, but available commercially all the time as it
is also possible to approximate it using later milk.  The colostrum is
slowly cooked down over low heat in a thick iron pot, cinnamon and raisins
added, and it is eaten like a pudding or spread on bread or lefse.  Don't
like it much myself but I can see where you would want to do something with
litres and litres of colostrum if you weren't giving it to the newborn of
the species.  Cows make gallons of the stuff.

Sigh.
Rachel Myr
editor, midwife, IBCLC
Kristiansand, Norway

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