Dairy Spares has launched the Trusti Pasteur – a dual-purpose unit that can be used both to pasteurise packs of colostrum, and to thaw and warm up frozen packs for feeding.
Developed by New Zealand company Antahi, and designed for use with four litre Trusti colostrum bags, the new Trusti Pasteur is a purpose-designed lidded water bath with programmable temperature and heating times. It provides reliable, safe, and accurate heating of bagged colostrum.
Pasteurising colostrum is straightforward: cold water is added into the Trusti Pasteur unit to create a water bath. Colostrum – that has been freshly taken and quality-checked – is poured into Trusti colostrum bags. The Pasteur unit can hold either one or two of these bags, and a metal separator ensures that water can flow all around them. Pasteurisation is achieved by programming the unit to heat the water up to a temperature of 60C, for a period of 60 minutes.
The pasteurised colostrum bags are then removed and can either be stored in a fridge for up to four days, or frozen for up to one year.
To thaw and warm up frozen colostrum bags, there are two options: the water bath temperature can be set to 42C, and then it takes 35 minutes for a fully filled four litre Trusti colostrum bag to be warm enough for feeding. Alternatively, for a quicker thaw, the frozen colostrum bags can be placed into the water bath at 60C and the timer set to 20 minutes – after which they must be removed immediately to prevent a higher temperature from denaturing the antibodies.
Why pasteurise colostrum? A calf’s immature immune system makes it more susceptible to disease when exposed to pathogens. Pasteurisation is beneficial in killing any bacteria present in the colostrum. Colostrum pasteurisation can also help minimise disease transfer on farms where Johne’s disease or Mycoplasma is present.
The Trusti Pasteur is designed to provide a consistent and accurate water bath temperature. This is important: temperatures of more than 61C can cause significant damage to antibodies, while pasteurisation temperatures less than 59C are less effective at achieving bacterial kill.
A Trusti Pasteur starter kit retails at £995 (correct at January 2021) and consists of the pasteurisation unit, eight Trusti colostrum bags, two types of feeding attachments for the bags – a Trusti tuber and a teat – plus a cleaning brush and marker pen.
