History of the
National
Colostrum Network
In
the spring of 1983, a woman by the name of Geraldine Busse lost a colt to
septicemia secondary to failure of passive transfer. As a result, Busse began gathering as much information as she could
about colostrum. A year later, with the
help of her local riding club, the North Central Morgan Association, she formed
a network to help those in need. Her
efforts gained national attention and were greatly utilized.
By 1987, the
demands of the service began to wear on Busse, and she was experiencing
difficulty in answering medically technical questions about foals and
colostrum. Busse decided that the
network might be more adequately handled by equine veterinarians, and
therefore, began looking for help.
Dr. James
Chiapetta volunteered to coordinate the reference list of colostrum donors for
Busse. However, Busse felt that the
people did not respond as well to a veterinarian-operated network, and Dr.
Chiapetta's busy schedule began to consume the time he had available to give to
the network. Thus, in the fall of 1988,
they approached University of Minnesota representatives, who then approached
the Student Chapter of the American Association of Equine Practitioners
(SCAAEP). In January of 1989, the U of
MN-SCAAEP began officially operating the network of colostrum donors--the
network that is now known as the National
Colostrum Network.
The National Colostrum Network was founded at the
University of Minnesota-College
of Veterinary Medicine.