Perfect Udder^® Colostrum Management Bags, developed by Dairy Tech, Incorporated, are the solution for handling colostrum from harvest to feeding without the fear of re-contamination. This management tool allows the colostrum to be pasteurized, refrigerated or frozen, warmed up and fed through a nipple or esophageal feeder all from the same biosecure container.

Test

Measure Colostrum Quality

• Use a Brix refractometer and follow manufacturer’s instructions to clean and calibrate the instrument regularly. Colostrum with a Brix reading >22 is considered high quality to be used for the calves.
• Colostrometers can also be used to determine the quality. These instruments are temperature sensitive and colostrum must be very near 20°C/72°F. Fill the test tube and gently insert the glass probe. The colostrum level on the densimeter scale indicates quality. Green level indicates the highest quality.

Record

• Mark each Perfect Udder^® bag with the quality of the batch so that the best can be used for first feedings.
• Also mark the date of collection on each bag.
• Always use “First-In-First-Out” to keep the colostrum storage fresh.

Pasteurize

Most contagious pathogens on the dairy are also going to be shed in colostrum. Pasteurization will eliminate or greatly reduce this risk.

• Colostrum must be pasteurized at 60°C/140°F for 60 minutes in order to destroy pathogens, maintain viscosity of the final product and to preserve the delicate Ig molecules.
• Pasteurize as quickly as possible after harvesting colostrum to preserve the quality.
• Pasteurization of colostrum will lead to improved absorption of Ig into the calf which in turn results in less sickness, less mortality, better weight gain and more future production.

Store

Bacteria in room temperature colostrum double every 20 minutes!

• Pasteurize the colostrum immediately in bulk OR transfer the colostrum into Perfect Udder^® bags so it can be rapidly cooled to preserve the quality of the colostrum.
• Always keep a lid on colostrum to prevent contamination by flies and dirt. Use a filter to remove contaminants as well as teat sealants as colostrum is loaded into Perfect Udder^® bags
• Raw or pasteurized colostrum can only be refrigerated for 48 hours. It can be frozen for up to a year.
• Store frozen colostrum only in quality freezers without automatic defrost.

Warm

Absorption of the colostrum is greatly influenced by the temperature.

• Be careful to not exceed 140°F (60°C) with the water bath to reheat colostrum. Significant damage can occur to the immunoglobulins above these temperatures. The pasteurization technology developed by Dairy Tech, Incorporated is proven to carefully, but quickly, warm colostrum so that it is ready for feeding to the calf immediately following birth.
• Check the temperature of the colostrum with a thermometer or by testing on sensitive skin such as the wrist. The goal is 90-110°F (32°C – 43°C) with no remaining pieces of frozen colostrum in the bag.

Feed

Feed the correct volume at the right time.

• Feed the calf within 60 minutes or sooner if possible.
• Always wear gloves or clean hands when feeding newborns
• Choose a 3L Perfect Udder^® bag for a calf <66lbs/30kg and a 4L Perfect Udder^® bag for a calf >66lbs/30kg.
• Use a 2L Perfect Udder^® bag for the Second Feeding of ALL calves.

Skip the Clean Up!

Colostrum is very high in fat and protein content which makes it nearly impossible to clean from surfaces.

• Use of plastic bottles is discouraged for this reason. This also saves on the labor and cost of chemicals used to try to clean bottles.
• Perfect Udder^® bags are intended to be used one time and then discarded or recycled.
• Similarly, the nipples and esophageal tubes are difficult to clean. This is the reason that each new kit of Perfect Udder^® bags comes with a new set of your favored feeding attachments. This limits the number of times that these devices will be used and therefore cuts down on contamination to the calf.

Large volumes of colostrum can be batch pasteurized and then metered out into Perfect Udder bags. Smaller volumes can be pasteurized directly in the bag. We have colostrum management solutions for any size operation.