08/28/2026
Great idea.
Today I picked up my annual supply of colostrum from the neighboring organic dairy farm and froze it in ready-to-use portions of about seven ounces in small water bottles. The cow from which the colostrum was collected is a cross between Jersey and Holstein. She freshened last night, this was her first milking this morning. The Jersey influence makes the milk fatter, closer to 5% milkfat, which is closer to ovine milk fat content, which is much higher than the one of bovine milk. The dairy herd is tested for Johne’s disease, so the individual lambs that will receive this colostrum are safe from contracting the disease.
What is colostrum? It is the very first milk that a mammal produces after birth. The significance is that lambs (as well as calves) receive all their first antibodies and thus early immunity against common diseases via this colostrum. While some mammals transfer antibodies via the placenta and some via a combination of placenta and colostrum, sheep pass them exclusively on through the colostrum. A lamb must have colostrum within the first day or so. Shortly after that, a ewe stops producing these antibodies. Furthermore, antibodies, which are proteins consisting of long chains of amino acids, only pass a lamb’s digestive system whole within the first day or so and then enter the bloodstream. When the lamb is a few days old, the anti-bodies get broken down into individual amino acids in the digestive system and thus are no longer effective. So, you can see how colossally important colostrum is (pun intended)!
Bovine colostrum has proven effective for sheep. It will be given to a lamb in need via a feeding tube. Such lamb could be one whose mother has died or one that has or had mastitis and is not producing enough colostrum for two or three lambs, or it could be a lamb that was born premature or weak and is unable to nurse. While these cases are few and far between at White Clover Sheep Farm, the colostrum is literally a life saver when needed. Colostrum can also be purchased in powdered form. It is very expensive, and I am very thrifty. That is why I choose bovine colostrum.
