Colostrum: What do I do with all of it?
Welcome back to the blog my friends! It is a nice chilly morning here in Montana – and although it is cold, it is SPRING time! And what does Spring time mean? BABIES! And what do babies mean? Colostrum! So what do you do with it? Save it? Dump it? Let the babies have it all? That’s what we’re here to talk about today…(PS This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase – at no extra cost to you! Thanks for supporting us!)
Things to do with colostrum at a glance:
Let the babies have their fill!
Freeze for future babies
Freeze for human use
Freeze for sick animals
Feed to other animals
Make stuff!
Let babies have their fill…
Obviously, this is the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do with colostrum. This post is geared more toward what to do with the EXCESS…because we don’t want that liquid gold to go to waste!
Freeze for future babies:
This is the most practical thing to do with excess colostrum. Once you are sure your calves / lambs / kids etc have had plenty of colostrum, go ahead and milk your momma out so you can save the precious colostrum. Not every momma will have tons of extra. Milk cows usually have plenty. Ewes that only have a single lamb should have extra.
*Do not* use a regular milk filter for colostrum. Trust me when I tell you friends, it will NOT filter. It is too thick. Use cheesecloth, butter muslin, or a tea towel.
For calves I like to freeze in one quart containers or plastic bags. Calves generally need about 1 quart of colostrum per 33lbs of birthweight, so an average size calf will drink 2 – 3 quarts.
For lambs I like to freeze the colostrum in an ice cube tray. Each well holds about 1 ounce. A newborn lamb (depending on size) will drink 2-4oz / feeding. Speaking of ice cube trays…
Freeze for human use:
I also like to freeze colostrum in ice cube trays for my own use! Why not? I throw these cubes of gold into a smoothie at the start of the school year or whenever we feel the sniffles coming on for an extra little boost to our immune systems. You can also freeze in larger containers if you so choose.
Freeze for sick animals:
The “Independent Farmstead” by Shawn & Beth Dougherty cites many uses for colostrum for sick animals. They feed it to bum calves that develop scours or even as prevention for scours. They swear by it for curing and preventing shipping fever in piglets and also pneumonia. How cool is that? We don’t currently raise pigs but I will definitely keep that information in our arsenal for when we do!
Feed to other animals:
Of course if you have plenty of good quality colostrum in the freezer already, go ahead and just feed the fresh stuff to your other animals. Pigs and chickens love it! I have an old hen named OG Momma that will submerse her entire head into the bucket of colostrum every year.
Finally, what not trying making stuff?
Can you consume colostrum? While most people refuse it, some actually consider it a special, once a year treat! Why not try it, at least once?
Like I mentioned above, I like to add it to our smoothies as an immune booster. I have also seen others make butter with it, which I think is a GREAT IDEA since it is mostly cream! Here are a couple recipes I was able to dig up to further inspire you:
Colostrum milk custard by The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery:
Mix 1 cup regular milk with 2-3 cups colostrum. Add 1/2 cup honey or sugar and stir. Season with cinnamon and bake or cook in double boiler. The colostrum will thicken and set without eggs because it’s high in albumen. It tastes very rich.
Several fun recipes to try: https://thisnzlife.co.nz/why-colostrum-shouldnt-go-to-waste-and-how-you-can-benefit-from-it/#
Abrystir Colostrum Pudding by: https://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.com/tag/cooking-with-colostrum/
For a non-food idea try making soap! With all of that fat can you imagine how luxurious the soap would turn out?
So what do you think… will you try any of the recipes? Or just stick to letting the babies have the colostrum? I think trying things like this is half the fun of having your own milk cow or dairy sheep! If this post has you all jazzed up for milking season check out my post on when to separate ewes and lambs for milking here.
-Sari
PS: What in tarnation is going on here? This is my dairy calf trying to suck the pony. I was walking out to the pasture to get the sheep in when I came across this… so of course the correct thing to do was shake my head and take a picture. Have a great week friends!