Question: Where do they pick up the microbes?

Chloe Matthews answered on 29 Apr 2020:

Another great question! The first place cows meet their microbes is from their mothers when they are being born. They then start to pick up different microbes from their surrounding areas like their sheds, other cows and calves, the soils, everywhere! This helps to set them up for the rest of their lives. The microbes are always changing especially in the early days and weeks of life, helping to protect the calves from other nasty microbes that might make them sick, so it’s really important to keep their sleeping and feeding areas clean. If they are not kept clean, they might get sick from nasty microbes found on dirty bedding. The dirty bedding might have poo from from other animals on it and if the calf accidentally eats some that came from a sick animal they might get sick too. But most of the microbes they get are good ones!