During this time the newborn animal absorbs intact maternal antibodies present in the colostrum directly through the digestive tract. After the first few days the animal's digestive tract matures (gut closure) and the direct adsorption of intact antibody ceases. At this point any antibodies present in the colostrum and milk act in local protection of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

What is the Adaptive Immune System?

The adaptive immune system produces a specific response in response to an infective agent. This specific response is in the form of antibodies, which are produced to neutralize the invading agent.

A very important feature of the adaptive immune system is that it involves memory, in that gives rise to resistance to repeated exposure or infection by the same invading agent. The importance of this memory factor is seen in childhood diseases such as Chicken Pox, Measles, and Mumps in which the adaptive immune system produces a life-long immunity following infection.

What is the Immune System?

The immune system is a natural defence mechanism by which the body fights infection. It is divided into two functional systems, the innate and adaptive immune systems.

What is the Innate Immune System?

This is the first line of defence by which the host combats infectious agents and pathogenic microbes. This is non-specific response, which proves effective against most infective agents. The skin is part of the innate immune system as it acts as a preventive barrier to most infective agents.

When is colostrum collected?

The first colostrum collected after birth is reserved for the newborn calf. New Image colostrum is collected within first 36 hours.

Why Bovine Colostrum?

Interestingly, bovine colostrum is the only form of colostrum that is not species specific. In other words, it contains all of the immune and growth factors found in all other sources and thus it can significantly benefit all other mammals, including humans of course.

Because calves are born without any immunity to airborne, disease-causing organisms, their mothers colostrum must contain a very large amount of immune and health factors. As a result bovine colostrum has 10 - 21 times the factors of human colostrum, making it the richest source of colostrum available.

Why Can't I Get Colostrum From A Local Farmer?

You can. It needs to be refrigerated and consumed before it spoils. Raw colostrum is not pasteurised and contains immune factors from just one cow. This differs from processed colostrum, which is concentrated and provides a broad base of immune factors that have been pooled from hundreds and sometimes thousands of cows.

Why do I need colostrum, as an adult?

Once puberty has passed, our bodies begin the aging process by gradually producing less of the immune and growth factors that help us fight off disease and heal damaged body tissue. Colostrum is the only natural source of these life-giving components.

Why is Colostrum Important?

Colostrum is the first food that is available to the newborn. It is not only highly nutritious but also contains substances (immunoglobulins and immune factors) that help to stimulate and augment the newborns immune system thus helping to protect the vulnerable newborn from it's new potentially harmful environment (passive transmission of immunity). Further it contains contains substances (growth factors and cytokines) which act to stimulate the development, maturation and proliferation of various tissues and organs.

The significance of colostrum is best illustrated in farm animals, such as the horse, cow, goat, sheep and pig. In these animals passive transmission of immunity occurs after birth in the form of colostrum. If these animals do not receive colostrum in the first 12 - 24 hours following birth they have a very good chance of not surviving (mortality rates of up to 25% have been reported).

Why is Local Passive Protection Important?

The importance of passive local protection is evidenced in the newborn calf where diarrhoea and other enteric infections (scours) can prove fatal. It has been widely accepted that the best source of nourishment for the infant mammal is mother's milk. This has largely been attributed to not only the nutritional benefits of mother's milk but also the presence of milk immunoglobulins providing local passive protection of the GI tract.

Why New Zealand Colostrum?

New Zealand Colostrum is recognised as the world’s premium colostrum. Why? Because it is collected only from pasture-fed cows, that are pesticide, antibiotic and hormone free. New Zealand has a strong competitive advantage in colostrum production due in part to NZ's dairy cows all calving during a single three-month period each year.

This means NZ Colostrum is collected in bulk and transported in a fresh chilled state from farms to the processing plant, in the same way as milk. This is a critical production advantage, because gentle handling, and low temperature collection and process technology preserve Colostrum's active ingredients. In other countries, colostrum is collected in batches until there is enough to process. This means it must be stored for long periods before processing, so it is frozen. Rapid freezing and rapid thawing techniques prior to processing may cause damage to the protein molecules and may compromise the integrity and biological activity of the immunoglobulins, growth factors and other biologically active components.

The absolutely best source of colostrum is from the early milk of pasture fed, non-hyperimmunised, healthy New Zealand cows. It is our temperate climate combined with our farming practices make New Zealand the absolute best supplier of colostrum. Further New Zealand milk products are renowned worldwide for their quality and consistency in both manufacture and supply. International quality auditors to ISO 9001 standards certify the testing laboratories and all manufacturing facilities.