









































Understanding dairy calf growth and development is essential to ensuring a consistent supply of high-quality 
products to consumers throughout the nation. The antibody-rich milk—termed colostrum—administered to calves 
within their first 24 hours of life has become a key factor in increased calf health from birth through long-term 
development. This research analyzed the relationship between colostrum quality and passive immunity transfer 
proteins found in blood samples taken from calves between 48-72 hours after birth. Brix refractometry was utilized 
to measure protein content in these blood samples which were recorded as Brix scores. Another aspect of the project 
investigated new innovations for colostrum administration aimed at decreasing bacteria counts for higher-quality 
feeding to provide new data to farmers regarding more advantageous colostrum procedures. Blood samples were 
taken from 258 calves born over a seven-month period to find Brix scores, which were then compared with lab-
tested total protein content and immunoglobulin levels from these blood samples, as well as recorded health events. 
Results expressed a significant positive correlation between Brix scores and lab-tested total protein content and 
immunoglobulin levels, as well as a significant correlation of higher Brix scores resulting in lower frequency of 
pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age. A newer colostrum procedure of administration through use of a single-
use O-shaped bag resulted in a higher average Brix score than traditional methods of a reusable pitcher, suggesting 
that this innovation increases colostrum quality by decreasing the chances for bacteria replication. These results help 
provide dairy and beef farmers with essential information on the importance of good colostrum management and 
recommendations for procedures to improve their existing programs. 

Aisthesis      Volume 14,  202312

The Effects of Colostrum Quality on Health and 
Development of Dairy Calves

by Madeline Kinsella

Introduction
 Dairy calves are born with minimal 
immune systems due to the protective qualities 
of bovine placenta preventing transfer of vital 
immunoglobulins from dam to calf during gestation 
(Ahmann et al., 2021). A dairy calf ’s first source 
of immune protection develops entirely from the 
passive transfer of antibody-rich colostrum within 
the first few hours of life (Lorenz, 2021). Colostrum 
is effectively fed through use of esophageal tube 
feeders immediately after birth and then again twelve 
hours after birth (Godden et al., 2019). Once the first 
dose of colostrum is administered, absorption of 
maternal immunoglobulins (IgG) from colostrum 
within the small intestine occurs within the first 
24 hours of life and protects the calf against disease 
until it develops its own immune system (Godden 
et al., 2019). Colostrum quality impacts long-term 
health in dairy calves, such as decreased mortality 
postweaning, increased development rates, reduced 
age at first calving, and increased milk production 

during first and second lactations (Godden et al., 
2019). Good colostrum management increases 
colostrum quality on dairy farms, ensuring the 
development of strong and healthy calves. Factors 
influencing colostrum quality include cow and calf 
genetics, colostrum yield, equipment cleanliness, 
and procedure of how colostrum is administered to 
calves after birth (Soulfleri et al., 2021). 
 Brix refractometry has become one of the most 
common ways to effectively monitor colostrum 
management through passive immunity transfer 
found in pre-weaned dairy calves' blood samples 
(Giammarco et al., 2021). Brix refractometry works 
by passing light through a sample and measuring 
the amount of refraction to determine the solid 
content which is representative of various immunity 
factors. This measurement of solids has been shown 
to correlate with IgG levels, fat, protein, and lactose 
within dairy calf blood samples (Buranakarl et 
al., 2021). Brix percentages are evaluated on a 
quantitative scale from “poor” to “excellent” quality. 



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Aisthesis      Volume 14,  202313

Poor blood serum Brix percentages are values below 
8.1% refractive index in the liquid (Jaywant et al., 
2022), with successive categories fair, 8.1–8.8%; 
good, 8.9–9.3%; and excellent, above 9.3% (Godden 
et al., 2019). Higher Brix scores should correlate 
with increased calf health and development through 
body growth, organ development, and resistance 
to infectious diseases, decreasing chances for calf 
morbidity and mortality (Lorenz, 2021).
 Good colostrum management includes practices 
that ensure calves are administered clean colostrum 
at the appropriate times within the first few hours 
of life. The highest efficacy of colostrum absorption 
and maximum IgG levels are found when calves 
are fed their first feeding of colostrum 45 minutes 
after birth, and their second feeding within the 
first 12 hours of life, before the calf ’s gut becomes 
impermeable to colostrum immunoglobulins (Scott 
et al., 1979; Godden et al., 2019). Colostrum handling 
procedure—including how quickly the most recent 
donor cow colostrum is frozen and thawed through 
a water bath for feedings—has significant effect on 
colostrum quality. Recent studies have found that 
bacteria replication during heating and cooling of 
colostrum can decrease IgG concentration by 44% 
(Pfeiffer et al., 2010, as cited by Ahmann et al., 
2021). A common practice of colostrum heating 
and cooling on dairy farms includes use of reusable 
plastic pitchers, first filled with colostrum then 
frozen in a freezer, and thawed through utilization 
of a hot water bath, before being fed to the calves 
with an esophageal tube feeder (Ashley Silva, 
Personal Communication). Recent innovations for 
this process have aimed at reducing the time needed 
to cool and heat colostrum, including utilization 
of a single-use O-shaped colostrum bag. The 
unique O-shape of these “dairy tech perfect udder 
colostrum bags” provide greater surface area to allow 
faster heating and cooling of colostrum, minimizing 
bacterial growth, and potentially increasing health 
for dairy and beef calves (Leedstone, accessed 
2023). However, this practice is still relatively new 
and further research is essential to understanding 
the benefits of these single-use colostrum bags in 
comparison to previously successful methods. 
 To better understand the relationship between 
colostrum quality and calf health and development, 
as well as the direct relationship between Brix scores, 
laboratory IgG, and total protein counts, data was 

collected and analyzed through a seven-month 
study. This study was conducted at Donnan Farms in 
York, New York, where data was collected from 258 
Holstein dairy calves to determine Brix percentages 
from colostrum and its effects on calf health and 
development. Blood samples were taken from each 
calf between two and three days of age to identify 
Brix percentages, before being sent out to AgSource 
laboratories in Wisconsin to identify IgG and total 
protein levels. Health events were tracked for each 
calf along the duration of the study, including 
frequencies of recorded scours (calf diarrhea, Cho 
& Yoo, 2014), pneumonia contracted before 90 days 
of age, pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age, 
and calf deaths to investigate specific relationships 
between initial Brix percentages and overall calf 
health. This research also includes a comparison of 
Brix scores obtained through use of two different 
methods of colostrum administration to determine 
if there is a significant advantage in using “dairy tech 
perfect udder colostrum bags” (Leadstone, accessed 
2023) over the traditional reusable pitcher method.
 This research aims to investigate the effect of 
colostrum quality determined by Brix refractometry 
on dairy calves' health and development from 
birth through weaning. We also evaluate the 
differences between using single-use bagged 
colostrum and reusable pitchers on overall passive 
immunity transfer. In this research, we tested three 
hypotheses: (1) higher Brix scores will positively 
correlate with elevated total blood protein counts 
and blood immunoglobulin levels, (2) higher 
levels of blood protein from colostrum will lead 
to better development in dairy calves, including 
lower frequency of fluid therapy events, treatment 
events, and deaths and (3) Brix scores will increase 
after colostrum equipment was switched over to 
the single-use bags. Together these results provide 
an increased understanding of the relationship 
between colostrum quality and blood protein and 
IgG content in pre-weaned dairy calves, as well as 
the importance of these factors in long-term health 
and development. 

Materials and Methods
 Colostrum procedure switched from our 
traditional method of reusable pitchers to our 
reusable O-shaped bags six months into our seven-
month study. Colostrum was collected from donor 



The Effects of Colostrum Quality on Health and Development of Dairy Calves

Aisthesis      Volume 14,  202314

cows at their first milking hours after calving and 
administered to new calves born within the next 
day. To determine the effect of colostrum quality 
on calf health and development, we first collected 
blood samples from calves between two and three 
days of age. To obtain total blood protein counts, 
blood samples were spun in a centrifuge and then 
sampled through use of a Brix refractometer.  Blood 
was taken into 10 mL red top blood collection tubes 
stored in 10x10 blood tube holding racks, with 20g 
x 1” blood collection needles connected to plastic 
needle holders used for cutaneous penetration. A 
pipette, distilled water, and paper towel were used to 
dispense serum from the samples run through the 
centrifuge for 10 minutes with a relative centrifugal 
force of 1506 (g) onto the Brix refractometer within 
the maternity office at Donnan Farms. The software 
DairyComp305 (VAS 2023) was utilized to enter 
data points and track the health events of dairy 
calves involved in the research project. 

Blood Collection
 Blood samples were taken three times per week 
from all calves between 48–72 hours after birth on 
each given day. A list of every calf between two and 
three days of age was generated from the command 
“Show ID AGEDA for AGEDA=2-3 TPRO=0” typed 
into DairyComp305 (VAS, 2023), and equipment 
was prepared. Red top blood tubes, blood collection 
needles, a needle holder, and a permanent marker 
were brought to the calf housing sector of the farm 
holding over 750 individual hutches for animals to 
grow and develop before the blood draw procedure 
began. A new sterile needle was used for each calf, 
with the needle being connected to the needle holder. 
Each calf was manually restrained by straddling the 
animal’s neck while holding the head to one side, 
administering pressure on the newly exposed jugular 
vein. The needle was inserted into the jugular vein 
followed by blood tube attachment. Approximately 
10mL of blood was collected from each calf, then 
blood tubes were labeled with each calf 's individual 
identification number before being placed in a 
holding rack. This process was repeated for each calf 
between 2–3 days of age. Data was collected on a 
total of 258 calves from June 17th, 2022, to January 
28th, 2023. Blood was taken from between one and 
twelve calves per day over the course of one hour. 
As soon as sampling was completed, materials were 

safely transported back to the testing office at room 
temperature to be analyzed minutes later. 

Blood Analysis 
 Samples were processed using a centrifuge and 
Brix refractometer. The centrifuge was first loaded 
with blood tubes and set with a time of 10 minutes 
at 3500 RPM. After the centrifuge was started, the 
tube holding the rack, pipettes, distilled water, 
paper towels, and the refractometer were prepared. 
After completion of the centrifuge cycle, the blood 
displayed separation between the red erythrocytes at 
the bottom of the tubes and the yellow-tinged serum 
layered above it. The tubes were carefully removed 
from the centrifuge and placed vertically in the 
holding rack. The red tops were then removed from 
each tube and drops of the top layer of yellow-tinged 
serum were drawn into a pipette and placed on the 
refractometer lens. The optical Brix refractometer 
was read by holding the lens up to the light and 
reading the Brix% value between the blue and white 
gradients of the Brix column. These percentages were 
entered into DairyComp305 under “total protein” 
with the calf ID, the date blood was drawn, and the 
technician who fed the colostrum to each calf within 
the first hour after birth. Used pipettes were flushed 
with distilled water and the refractometer lens was 
cleaned with distilled water and paper towels before 
the next sample was analyzed. 
 Once all values were inputted into the software, 
the remaining serum from each blood tube was 
carefully removed via pipette and placed in a sterile 
empty blood tube, where it was then labeled with the 
calf ID, specific age in days of the calf, and date the 
blood sample was taken. This process was repeated 
for each original blood tube. Original blood tubes 
were then disposed of alongside used pipettes and 
paper towels. Serum tubes were placed in blood tube 
racks in the freezer to be stored before being sent 
off for further testing at AgSource labs in Wisconsin 
for specific blood total protein and immunoglobulin 
content that were compared with measured Brix 
percentages. 

Data Analysis and Statistics
 Data was analyzed through the computer 
programing software RStudio on an RMarkdown 
file (R Core Team, 2021) as well as Microsoft Excel 
(Microsoft Coorporation, 2018). Each calf was 



The Effects of Colostrum Quality on Health and Development of Dairy Calves

Aisthesis      Volume 14,  202315

followed from the day it was born until the end of the 
study. The first CSV file included data from the farm, 
including calf ID, Brix scores, frequency of scours, 
respiratory infections on pneumonia contracted 
before 90 days of age, and pneumonia contracted 
after 90 days of age for calves that were old enough, 
as well as calf deaths. The second CSV file included 
AgSource lab data of calf ID, Brix scores, total protein, 
and total immunoglobulin counts. Histogram 
graphs, as well as Shapiro tests, were run on all values 
to determine how each dataset was distributed before 
scatterplots were created to illustrate relationships 
between Brix scores and the various health events as 
well as lab total protein and immunoglobulin values. 
The Spearman Rank Correlation test was utilized to 
determine the significance of correlation in these 
graphs. Brix ranges were also analyzed between the 
categories of “excellent,” “fair,” “good,” and “poor” to 
illustrate the frequency of high-quality Brix scores 
from Donnan farms. All figures are created using 
ggplot2 (Wickham, 2016). 
  
Results
 There was significant evidence found to support a 
positive correlation between frequency of pneumonia 
contracted after 90 days of age (S = 3513875, p-value 
= 0.0002261, rho = -0.2276793), (Figure 3). We also 
found significant evidence to suggest that higher Brix 
scores resulted in lower frequency of calf morbidity 
(df = 1, sum sq = 22.2, mean sq = 22.243, F value 
= 29.97, pr(>F) = 4.87e-08), (Figure 4). We did not 
find significant evidence to suggest that higher Brix 
scores led to lower frequency of scours (S=3010886, 
p=0.406, rho=-0.0519447), (figure 1), or pneumonia 
contracted before 90 days of age (S = 3054804, 
p-value = 0.2816, rho = -0.06728897), (Figure 2). 
 We found significant evidence to suggest that 
there is a positive correlation between farm-tested 
Brix scores and lab-tested total protein values of our 
blood samples (S = 15866, p-value = 6.31e-08, rho 
= 0.619203), (Figure 5). We also found significant 
evidence to suggest that there is also a positive 
correlation between farm-tested Brix scores and lab-
tested immunoglobulin levels of our blood samples 
(S = 21742, p-value = 7.386e-05), (Figure 6). 
 When Brix scores of calves fed colostrum with 
our traditional method of single-use pitchers were 
compared to a new method utilizing single-use 

O-shaped bags, we were able to conclude that calves 
fed with single-use O-shaped bags had significantly 
higher Brix scores than the prior method (t = -2.2947, 
df = 256, p-value = 0.02256, 95 percent confidence 
interval: -0.95, -0.07), (Figure 7). 
 Further data analysis was conducted to determine 
the distribution of colostrum quality categories 
found during this study. Our samples were found 
to be 17% “poor” quality, 22% “fair” quality, 18% 
“good” quality, and 43% “excellent” quality.
 
Effect of Brix Scores on Calf Health
 To determine the relationship between Brix 
scores and calf health, Brix scores of 258 calves 
between two and three days old were recorded and 
plotted against the frequency of scours, frequency 
of pneumonia contracted before 90 days of age, 
frequency of pneumonia after 90 days of age, and calf 
death. 

Figure 1. Scatterplot depicting the relationship between 
Brix score (%) and frequency of scours. Each point on the 
scatterplot represents one calf in the study. A Spearman 
Rank Correlation was run after determining normality, 
resulting in our conclusion that frequency of scours did 
not significantly correlate with Brix score (S=3010886, 
p=0.406, rho=-0.0519447). 

 Datasets for farm-tested Brix scores were 
visualized on a histogram to test for normality. 
Data appeared left skewed and were deemed 
nonparametric. Shapiro-Wilk tests were run on 
both Brix score data (W=0.83312, p=5.706e-16) 
and scour frequency data (W=0.49786, p<2.2e-16), 
both of which demonstrate that the data were 
nonparametric.



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Aisthesis      Volume 14,  202316

Figure 2. Scatterplot depicting the relationship between Brix 
score and the frequency of pneumonia contraction before 
90 days of age (termed respiratory disease in pre-weaned 
calves, Stokka, 2010). A Spearman Rank Correlation was run 
after determining normality, resulting in our conclusion that 
frequency of pneumonia contracted before 90 days of age 
did not significantly correlate with Brix score (S = 3054804, 
p-value = 0.2816, rho = -0.06728897). 

 A Shapiro-Wilk test was run to determine 
normality for the frequency of respiratory disease 
(W=0.57094, p=2.2e-16), deeming the data 
nonparametric.

Figure 3. Scatterplot depicting the relationship between 
Brix score and frequency of pneumonia contracted after 90 
days of age. A Spearman Rank Correlation was run after 
determining normality, resulting in our conclusion that 
frequency of pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age 
significantly correlated with Brix score (S = 3513875, p-value 
= 0.0002261, rho = -0.2276793). 

 The use of a Shapiro-Wilk test on frequency of 
pneumonia contracted after 90 days of age portrayed 
a nonparametric dataset with values of (W = 0.46034, 
p-value = 2.2e-16). 

Figure 4. Scatterplot depicting the relationship between 
Brix score and survival rates of dairy calves through 
the study. A one-way ANOVA test was conducted to 
determine the effect of Brix scores on calf survival rates 
(df = 1, sum sq = 22.2, mean sq = 22.243, F value = 29.97, 
pr(>F) = 4.87e-08), giving us significant support that 
higher Brix scores correlate with lower frequency of death 
in dairy calves.

Comparison of Brix Scores and Immunoglobulin and 
Protein Levels
 Blood samples from 63 calves were sent to 
AgSource labs to be further analyzed for blood total 
protein (g/dL) and blood immunoglobulin levels 
(g/L). 

Figure 5. Scatterplot depicting the relationship between 
farm-measured Brix scores and lab-measured blood total 
protein (TPRO, g/dL). A Spearman Rank Correlation 
was chosen to account for conserved computation in 
determining normality (S = 15866, p-value = 6.31e-08, rho 
= 0.619203), allowing us to conclude there is a significant 
correlation between Brix scores and total protein values in 
calf blood serum. 
 



The Effects of Colostrum Quality on Health and Development of Dairy Calves

Aisthesis      Volume 14,  202317

 Datasets for both farm-tested Brix scores and 
lab-tested blood total protein values were visualized 
on a histogram to test for normality. Data for Brix 
scores appeared left skewed and were deemed 
nonparametric. Data for lab-tested total protein 
values appeared uniform and displayed a normal 
distribution. Shapiro-Wilk tests were run on both 
Brix score data (W=0.91693, p=0.0004142) and total 
protein data (W=0.98258, p=0.5135). 

Figure 6. Scatterplot depicting the relationship 
between farm-measured Brix scores and Lab-measured 
immunoglobulin concentrations (IgG, g/L). A Spearman 
Rank Correlation was chosen again to account for 
conserved computation in determining normality (S 
= 21742, p-value = 7.386e-05). We are able to conclude 
that there is significant evidence to suggest a positive 
correlation between Brix score and immunoglobulin 
levels in dairy calves. 
 
 Lab-measured blood immunoglobulin levels 
were visualized on a histogram to test for normality. A 
bimodal distribution was observed, indicating there 
is not a normal distribution in the dataset. Brix score 
values were consistent for both laboratory data tests. 
A Shapiro-Wilk test was conducted for the normality 
of the lab-measured blood immunoglobulin levels 
(W = 0.98556, p-value = 0.6696). 

The Effect of Colostrum Administration Procedure on 
Brix Scores 

   

Figure 7. Boxplot depicting the distributions of Brix scores 
for calves fed with the O-shaped single-use bags compared 
with Brix scores of calves being fed with reusable pitchers. 
Brix scores taken before the switch to the new bags on January 
1st, 2023, had an average of 8.81 with a standard deviation 
of 1.50, while Brix scores taken after the farm procedure 
change to O-shaped colostrum bags was 9.32 with a standard 
deviation of 1.43. A T-test was run on RStudio (t = -2.2947, 
df = 256, p-value = 0.02256, 95 percent confidence interval: 
-0.95, -0.07), allowing us to conclude that average Brix 
scores significantly increased after switching from reusable 
colostrum pitchers to single-use O-shaped colostrum bags. 

Further Analysis of Farm Brix Scores
 Brix data were also compiled into the four blood 
serum quality categories of “poor,” “fair,” “good,” 
and “excellent” to determine the success of Donnan 
Farms colostrum program.

Figure 8. Bar graph depicting the frequency of Brix scores 
in “Excellent,” “Fair,” “Good,” and “Poor” categories across 
all measurements. Percent frequencies were calculated using 
Microsoft Excel, with “poor” quality at 17% of the dataset, 
“fair” at 22%, “good” at 18%, and “excellent” at 43% of the 
total dataset.



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Aisthesis      Volume 14,  2023

 Brix Score values were filtered using RStudio 
into the four categories of blood serum quality. Once 
filtered, the frequency of each category was entered 
into a separate Excel file and then transferred back 
into RStudio to create a bar graph (Figure 8, statistical 
results) to visualize the size of each category. 

Discussion
 Good colostrum management is one of the most 
important factors in calf health and development 
on dairy farms (Godden et al., 2019). This research 
sought to determine the effect of colostrum quality on 
the health of calves by investigating the relationship 
between Brix scores and various health events such 
as scours, respiratory disease, pneumonia, and 
death, as well as the relationship between these 
scores and laboratory-tested blood total protein 
counts and immunoglobulin levels. Determining the 
effect of colostrum quality on specific health events 
on hundreds of calves as well as further research into 
the relationship between Brix scores, total blood 
protein, and immunoglobulin levels will further the 
field of agricultural science by helping farms across 
the globe raise healthier calves. This project also 
demonstrates the advantages of single-use dairy tech 
perfect udder colostrum bags (Leadstone, accessed 
2023) over other methods of colostrum management 
utilizing reusable pitchers. Research in this field may 
inform practices by both dairy and beef farms to 
improve hundreds of calf management systems and 
ensure the supply of high-quality products. 
 After blood samples were taken from calves and 
health events were recorded over a seven-month 
period, analyzed data significantly supported some of 
our hypotheses, but not others. Our first hypothesis 
regarding a positive relationship between farm-tested 
Brix scores and lab-tested blood protein counts and 
blood immunoglobulin levels was supported by our 
statistical analysis. These results provided significant 
evidence for our hypothesis that higher Brix scores 
will correlate with higher total protein counts and 
blood immunoglobulin levels. This agrees with 
prior research suggesting that Brix scores provide an 
accurate representation of colostrum quality, total 
blood protein counts, and blood immunoglobulin 
levels (Buranakarl et al., 2021). We can see that Brix 
refractometry is an accurate method of measuring 
colostrum quality through passive immunity 
transfer, and would be advantageous to be utilized 
by any farms that may not have this method as part 
of their colostrum procedure already.

 The second hypothesis of this study focused on 
the relationship between Brix scores from colostrum 
quality and frequency of health events. Health 
events tracked for each calf included frequency of 
scours, respiratory disease contracted before 90 
days of age, pneumonia contracted after 90 days 
of age, and calf deaths. There was no significant 
correlation between Brix scores and scours as well 
as frequency of respiratory disease before 90 days of 
age. This may be due to decreased time for the calves' 
immune systems to develop, and therefore higher 
susceptibility to disease independent of colostrum 
quality. However, our statistical analysis for both Brix 
scores' effect on pneumonia contracted after 90 days 
of age and calf deaths gave us significant evidence to 
conclude that increased colostrum quality through 
Brix scores leads to a lower frequency of pneumonia 
contracted after 90 days and death in post-weaned 
dairy calves. Although past studies found significant 
evidence supporting the positive long-term effects 
of colostrum quality on health and development in 
dairy calves (Godden et al., 2019), our study focused 
on health events recorded within the seven months 
of our study. This may account in part for the lack of 
significant support for our second hypothesis, as well 
as provide reasoning as to why our longest-running 
health event of pneumonia contracted after 90 days 
of age was the only one of two tests to agree with past 
research. 
 Our final hypothesis that average Brix 
scores would increase after switching colostrum 
administration procedure from reusable pitchers 
to single-use dairy tech perfect udder colostrum 
bags (Leadstone, accessed 2023) was also supported 
through our statistical analysis. Despite the averages 
providing support for our hypothesis, more research 
will have to be conducted on this sector of study, as 
there were under a month of blood samples taken 
after colostrum was fed with single-use bags versus 
over a six-month period of samples taken after 
administration of colostrum from a reusable pitcher. 
In conclusion, evidence has been found to suggest 
the utilization of single-use O-shaped colostrum 
bags will help to increase Brix scores in 48-72 
hour-old dairy calves; however, further studies are 
recommended by the authors of the study to find 
increased significant evidence, as very few studies 
have taken place regarding this method prior to this 
research. 

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Brix Score Quality
 The analysis of Brix score ranges placed into 
categories “poor,” “fair,” “good,” and “excellent” 
(Godden et al., 2019), were visualized through 
a bar plot to show success rates of Donnan Farms 
colostrum program. Our goal was to have 75% 
or greater values in the good to excellent range. 
After analyzing the data, we fell short of this goal 
with 61% of our samples falling within the good to 
excellent range. This finding suggests that although 
strict processes remain in place to ensure high-
quality colostrum administration to newborn 
calves, there may still be room for improvement. 
Improvements can be made in cleanliness procedure 
so that colostrum has the least contact possible with 
harmful bacteria introduced during the heating and 
cooling (Pfeiffer et al., 2010, as cited by Ahmann et 
al., 2021), or administration using various colostrum 
equipment (Ashley Silva, Personal Communication). 

Limitations of Study
 Although good colostrum management is a 
central factor in increased health and development 
in dairy calves (Soulfleri et al., 2021), there are 
other factors, such as calf nutrition (A. Lorenz et 
al., 2011a), temperature, and stressful events in 
the calf life that can also account for health issues 
such as pneumonia (Lorenz et al. 2011b) that may 
negatively impact a calf ’s development. Heat stress 
from the August weather in Western NY placed on 
calves when this study began as well as sub-zero 
temperatures recorded in December and January at 
the close of this study may be underlying contributing 
factors to decreases in calf health even if they were 
administered high-quality colostrum. 
 The freezing temperatures of late December and 
January during this study also may have had negative 
effects on the treated parlor pasteurizer at Donnan 
Farms, which pasteurizes milk administered to 
pre-weaned dairy calves (Ashley Silva, Personal 
Communication). During the coldest days of this 
study, the milk pasteurizer was not able to calibrate 
itself as effectively as normal, resulting in calves being 
fed milk that was too cold for their organs to digest 
effectively. This led to numerous deaths of calves 
from ulcers in their intestines (Dr. Alex Navarro, 
Personal Communication). This factor would not be 
accounted for in our correlation of Brix scores and 
calf deaths and could have skewed our results. 

 A final limitation of our study is the sample size 
of our dataset of Brix scores taken after colostrum 
management procedures were switched to single-use 
O-shaped bags. The authors believe that we may be 
able to find a greater significant increase in average 
Brix scores with a more comparable sample size to 
our sample size of Brix score samples taken while the 
reusable pitcher procedure was upheld. This would 
also help account for variations in temperature along 
a multiple-month study instead of the one-month 
current procedure versus the six-month record of 
our past procedure. 

Future Directions
 An extension of this study will continue to collect 
Brix samples from calves at Donnan Farms and enter 
these values into DairyComp305 (VAS, 2023). Brix 
scores will continue to be analyzed and compared 
with laboratory data from Agsource labs, as well as 
correlated with health events and categorized into 
our four categories of Brix quality percentages. This 
practice will continue to increase our sample size 
as well as allow us to continue closely monitoring 
our colostrum program, ensuring peak calf health 
and development. Average Brix scores utilizing the 
single-use O-ring colostrum bags will also continue 
to be recorded to assess the degree of advantage over 
prior methods. 
 Further follow-up studies may include research 
into relationships between Brix scores and calf health 
before and after weaning to determine if there is 
significant data to support the hypothesis that higher 
quality colostrum through increased Brix scores will 
positively correlate with lower health events such as 
scours and respiratory diseases contracted before 90 
days of age. These studies can be conducted using 
increased sample sizes as well as a study period of 
over a year to account for a wider variety of weather 
conditions that may affect the frequency of calves 
contracting disease. 

Conclusion
 The research conducted in this study has found 
evidence to support that 1) higher Brix scores 
display a positive correlation with both total blood 
protein counts and blood immunoglobulin levels, 
2) significant evidence was found that higher Brix 
scores can lead to decreased frequency of pneumonia 
contracted after 90 days of age as well as decreased 

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mortality, and 3) average Brix scores increased after 
colostrum equipment was switched over to single-
use bags. These findings help to further the field of 
agricultural research by emphasizing the importance 
of good colostrum management for increased calf 
health and development rates as well as providing 
evidence for the advantages of using single-use 
O-shaped colostrum bags over reusable pitcher 
methods. Extended research into these topics helps 
support the national dairy and beef industries to 
ensure quality products for the consumer population. 

Acknowledgments
 This study was funded by and conducted at 
Donnan Farms in York, New York. The author of 
this study would like to thank Ashley Silva for her 
overwhelming support and care of the animals and 
researchers in the completion of this project as well 
as the other staff at Donnan Farms. An extended 
acknowledgment goes to Dr. Mackenzie Gerringer 
for her wise advisement of this project as well as Dr. 
Alexander Navarro for his extensive knowledge and 
resources regarding dairy farming and colostrum 
management. A final thank you goes toward Dr. Lisa 
Meyers and the Edgar Fellows Honors Program at 
SUNY Geneseo for inspiring a project of such scale 
and allowing hundreds of other students to explore 
their greatest interests in such detail. 

Animal Care
 Animal care procedure at Donnan Farms follows 
the Animal Welfare Act to ensure all animals are 
treated humanely. This act also guarantees that any 
animal testing conducted will not cause any harm or 
excess stress to the subject in question (United States 
Department of Agriculture, 2017). 

 

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