Drinking colostrum?

I know this is old, but I thought I'd chime in anyway. We have a raw milk producer in our area, and I know people who get colostrum from him. I know it's fine for a week, at least. Goat colostrum tastes terrible, IMO, so I haven't tried cow colostrum.
It wouldn't make yogurt the traditional way because it "cooks" at a low temperature, and would thicken into a custard type of product before reaching the 180 degrees that milk is normally heated to for yogurt. It also can't be pasteurized that way for the same reason. Also, that would kill all the stuff that's in it that would make a person want to drink it.
I question the health benefits of drinking it anyway, because of how it works in newborn people and animals. The stomach of the goat kid is only suited to taking in and using the antibodies in the colostrum for a limited number of hours, like around 12 or so I think, and after that the stomach changes so it is too late for the colostrum to do it any real good. That's why it's important for the kid to get enough colostrum shortly after birth. That's why I question how much good it could do a person. I guess I haven't really looked into it too seriously though, so maybe there's more to it than that?

Replies

Patty Meyer February 15, 2016 at 4:55pm

I know this is old, but I thought I'd chime in anyway. We have a raw milk producer in our area, and I know people who get colostrum from him. I know it's fine for a week, at least. Goat colostrum tastes terrible, IMO, so I haven't tried cow colostrum.
It wouldn't make yogurt the traditional way because it "cooks" at a low temperature, and would thicken into a custard type of product before reaching the 180 degrees that milk is normally heated to for yogurt. It also can't be pasteurized that way for the same reason. Also, that would kill all the stuff that's in it that would make a person want to drink it.
I question the health benefits of drinking it anyway, because of how it works in newborn people and animals. The stomach of the goat kid is only suited to taking in and using the antibodies in the colostrum for a limited number of hours, like around 12 or so I think, and after that the stomach changes so it is too late for the colostrum to do it any real good. That's why it's important for the kid to get enough colostrum shortly after birth. That's why I question how much good it could do a person. I guess I haven't really looked into it too seriously though, so maybe there's more to it than that?
Phebe February 14, 2016 at 11:08am

We have drank goat milk too soon after kids were born. There must have still been some beginning milk, and it tasted terrible but none of us got sick.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle September 18, 2015 at 9:59am

I usually freeze all of my colostrum within 24 hours so that I can use it in the future when I have kids that need it. I'm not sure how long it lasts in the refrigerator. I have heard that there are places in California where you can buy colostrum for human consumption. There are people who think it cures all kinds of things. I'm not so sure about that, but I've never heard of it being bad for you.

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