COLOSTROGENESIS or THE FORMATION OF BOVINE COLOSTRUM

When does "colostrum" get made? Well if you ask a human mother she would say upon birth and guess what, she would be correct! If you ask her where is the colostrum made, she would say in the breast, again she would be correct. If, however you had the opportunity to ask a bovine mother the same questions the response would be completely different.

When does a bovine mother make her colostrum? Before birth, as a matter of fact several weeks before birth, that becomes very important when you look at the "WHY", which we will go in to. Where is the colostrum made, within the body? Within the body, what do you mean, why not the udders?

The udder of a cow is a pass-through, meaning the colostrum is actually made within the body and passes through the udder. However, if you want milk, then the udder is the place to be. You see many marketers of colostrum tell you all colostrum is the same and that the formation is essentially the same process, it isn't!

When you look at the production of colostrum between a human mother and a bovine mother the production is drastically different and for very specific reasons.

First let's take a look at the human side as it is easier to explain. Ready? A human mother will produce colostrum in the mammary gland and for up to approximately 5-7 days. The reason is we receive passive transfer of just about everything we need prior to birth through the placenta, that is called passive transfer.

The formation of colostrum in the pregnant cow starts approximately 3-4 weeks prior to birth, but it is produced essentially within the body and is released through the mammary gland. You see for the most part milk is produced within the mammary gland but colostrum isn't, it is produced within the body, as a matter of science the components are found within the blood and released upon the beginning of the birthing process.

Colostrum for the calf contains all the different factors to jump start the the baby calf; immune factors, growth factors and metabolic factors are all found within the colostrum. Why? Because THERE IS NO passive transfer between the mother and baby through the placenta with a bovine, they MUST get all the beneficial factors after they are born through the colostrum. The mammary gland for the cow is switched on about 2 days before birth, once that takes place the mammary gland is getting ready to produce lactose (milk), but before that process takes place the colostrum has to pass through or be reabsorbed by the mother for her own benefit.

If you look at what is in the mammary gland at the time of birth, it is composed of true colostrum and until that pre-milk fluid is either suckled or removed up until about 6-8 hours it remains the substance we are looking for, colostrum. Once removal happens then the mammary gland kicks in and starts to produce copious amounts of lactose or transitional milk and within 72 hours after birth it is milk.

If you are after the benefits that true colostrum can bring you, get true colostrum.