Does anyone here continue feeding colostrum to kids (let's say for this situation, it's a bottle baby and you have been unable to get milk from mom - let's say she has a congested udder - so you are using replacer) - for longer than the first 24 hours? I have been reading studies that say colostrum up to 3 days old is beneficial in dairy cows.
It won't help with antibodies but there are other good things in colostrum. I have used colostrum for a couple days on weak crias in the past. Felt that it did help with more energy.
Just straight. The crias I used it on for more than 24 hours really needed everything they could get. It could be mixed with milk too. If it is defrosted colostrum, I'd certainly use it up since you can't refreeze it.
Colostrum (not replacer) is also a natural laxative, so if you have a baby that remains constipated, it can be helpful to give past 24 hours old. If possible for bottle babies, mixing it with milk, decreasing it over a week or longer mimics what mom does naturally too. Additionally I have read how colostrum can repair leaky gut syndrome in humans and some goat owners use it to heal the gut of a goat who recovers from coccidia load.
I always freeze the first 7 days of milk and mark them according to when I milked. I beleav the first 7 days of milk are colostrum and the baby needs all 7 days of it! I noticed an improvement in how healthy my kids were.
