RWN Calving Cow Supplements

Milk Fever Prevention in the Calving Cow

The Calving Cow

Even where a well designed dry cow and transition feeding and management program has been followed, calving is a critical time for the cow.

Attention to detail with feeding and management in the few days around calving have a massive impact on the performance, health and fertility of the cow during the ensueing lactation.What happens at and around calving will have a major bearing on whether the cow calves easily and moves seemlessly into lactation achieving exceptional milk yields. Will she be free of milk fever (hypocalcaemia), metritis, metabolic disorders, ketosis, mastitis, maintain body condition, get back in calf and survive to see another lactation. Or will she succumb to clinical or sub-clinical milk fever, retained cleansings, metritis, ketosis, displaced abomasum and other metabolic disorders, infertility, reduced milk output and be culled.

Milk Fever and the Calving Cow

Milk fever or hypocalcaemia (shortage of calcium) will typically hit around 5% - 10% of calving cows in the UK, mainly 3rd of 4th lactation cows. The cost of clinical cases is plain to see. The downer cow. The vet bills. The cows that are lost every year. The overall cost of a clinical case of milk fever can easily be over £300 per cow.

Sub-clinical milk fevers often go un-noticed but can have a major effect on the cows health, fertility and milk outputUSDA (2005) research indicates that 50% - 70% of cows may be affected by sub clinical milk fever. These sub-clinical cases are the ones that you don't see. Sub-clinical  hypocalcaemia has been proven to result in production losses, reduced fertility, as well as increased metabolic problems and disease incidence. For example Massey et al. (1993) demonstrated that cows with sub-clinical milk fever were 4.8x more likely to have left side displaced abomasums. Hypocalcaemia can also result in 9x more ketosis, 6x more calving difficulties, 4x more retained placenta and an increase in infectious disease incidence.

But it is the sub-clinical milk fever cases whose true economic cost to the dairy farmer is often not appreciated. These sub-clinical milk fevers the ones that don't show any symptoms can, and do, cause a variety of problems including retained cleansings, metritis, mastitis, displaced abomasums, reduced dry matter intakes, ketosis, increased negative energy balance in early lactation, excessive loss of body condition score, reduced milk yields and infertility.

Are Problems in Your Herd the Result of Sub-Clinical Milk Fever

Bottling clinical milk fever cases with calcium is routine practice. But for every clinical case of milk fever there are probably 6-8 sub-clinical milk fevers which go un-noticed. This is where the major cost of milk fever lies.In the time shortly before and after calving, large amounts of calcium are removed from the blood to the milk resulting in a rapid drop of calcium. Milk fever is caused by the failure of calcium absorption to increase fast enough at calving to meet demand, with symptoms such as lack of appetite, low body temperature and muscle tremors. Clinical cases of milk fever are routinely treated by bottling or bolusing with calcium.

However whilst Sub-Clinical Milk Fever affects the majority of cows in most dairy herds, there are no visible signs of the disorder, consequently it is very important to take routine preventative action.

A well designed dry cow feeding programme is essential, but even so, unless forages can be fed which are particularly low in potassium sub-clinical milk fevers will still be reducing lactation performance, fertility and profitability.

Milk Fever Prevention at Calving

Magnesium Chloride and DCAD - The traditional approach to controlling milk fever (hypocalcaemia) in the UK is to feed a low calcium, high magnesium diet throughout the dry dry period. This approach has often failed where calcium levels in the forage are not sufficiently low to allow the cow to adapt to a shortage of calcium during the dry period thus avoiding hypocalcaemia and milk fever at calving.

Milk fever is rarely a problem where the Dietary Cation Anion Balance (DCAB or DCAD) on the dry cow diet is low for example when the potassium levels in the diet are below 1.5%. In practice the potassium level of UK forages is difficult to predict and is very variable between 2% and 4%. Straw, maize and wholecrop is generally lower than grass or grass silage.

Feeding 50 - 200gms of magnesium chloride flakes in the TMR or dissolved in water to reduce the DCAD of the diet and to add additional magnesium can be effective in preventing milk fever at low to moderate potassium levels.

This approach is not effective where potassium levels in forage are above 2.5%. The cows urine pH can be tested and should be 6.5 - 7pH. If this cannot be achieved then the forage should either be changed or another approach such as X-Zelit should be used.

X-Zelit Pre-Calving Calcium Binder

Feed X-Zelit for two weeks before calving. Sub-clinical milk fevers often go un-noticed but can have a major effect on the cows health, fertility and milk outputX-Zelit is generally recognised as the most effective product available for the prevention of of both clinical and sub-clinical milk fever. This product has some remarkable abilities to eliminate milk fever and increase appetite in early lactation. X-Zelit is a Calcium binding feed supplement containing synthetic zeolite which binds calcium from feeds in the gut.

Supplementing with X-Zelit stimulates the cow's hormone system to mobilise calcium from the bodies reserves ensuring that adequate supplies of calcium are available at calving preventing milk fever. X-Zelit is fed at 0.5kg/cow/day for two weeks prior to calving.

X-Zelit is generally recognised as most effective control of Milk Fever

X-Zelit for prevention of milk fever and hypocalcaemiaExtensive commercial farm trials have shown that X-Zelit is highly effective in the prevention of both clinical and sub-clinical milk fever, even on farms where potassium levels are high and where other systems of milk fever control have failed.

Whilst more costly than traditional approaches to milk fever control, X-Zelit has proven extremely effective and the additional cost involved is easily justified by increased milk yield and improved herd health.

Even herds with low levels of milk fever have reported easier calving, improved appetites and higher dry matter intakes post calving, reduced metabolic problems, improved fertility, better milk quality and improved milk yields.

X-Zelit has been shown to improve dry matter intakes, lactation performance, metabolic problems, cell counts and dairy herd fertility

Cows showing signs of hypocalaemia have been shown to be more than 5 times more susceptible to ketosis than normal calcaemic cows of the same parity. One of the first things farmers using X-Zelit notice is a reduction in the incidence of ketosis.

Download our X-Zelit PDF brochures Making Milk Fever History and see how X-Zelit can increase milk yield by a litre a day over a lactation even in dairy herds with well designed dry cow feeding programmes who are already achieving very low incidence of milk fever Have a Litre On Us . Find out more about X-Zelit and how it could benefit your own farm.

Webinars on using X-Zelit to manage calcium and maximizing lifetime performance:
X-Zelit and Transition cow management Part 1
and X-Zelit and Transition cow management Part 2.

Calcium Boluses

Treating with a Calcium Bolus at calving as routine is an effective tool in the prevention of milk feverCalving Bolus Extra is an advanced new type of calcium bolus. Cows are dosed at or a few hours before calving. The bolus is based on a combination of organic calcium sources along with magnesium and Vitamin D.

These are quickly dissolved into the rumen fluid and are rapidly absorbed into the blood working in a number of ways to help maintain calcium metabolism for up to 24 hours after calving.

The routine use of calcium boluses across all second calvers and above is recommended as a preventative for sub-clinical milk fevers. Bolusing is a much quicker and easier option than injecting with bottles of calcium borogluconate. Improved calcium metabolism results in better appetites and fewer problems at and around calving. Bolusing cows is straight forward and bolusing is proving to be a very effective tool in the prevention of milk fever.

The hours immediately post calving are a critical time which can have massive implications for performance during the ensuing lactation. Even when cows show no symptoms sub-clinical hypocalcaemia can have a huge impact on cow health and performance in the coming lactation.

Dose all 2nd Calvers and above with Calving Bolus Extra

The Fresh Calver

It is vital to get new calvers fully re-hydrated, up and back on to feed as soon as possible. Many of our clients now use a highly palatable rumen-filling drink as routine to rehydrate all new calved cows.

F1 ReStart drink for new calving cows provides rehydration, energy and calciumReStart - is a drink for fresh calved cows, designed to achieve rapid post-calving intake of water, energy, calcium propionate, phosphorous, live yeast and probiotics, vitamins, protected choline, trace elements and electrolytes in order to achieve effective re-hydration.

1kg of this extremely palatable post calving supplement is dissolved into 20 - 40 litres of hot water.

Re-hydration from drinking this soluble energising formula results in a rapid return to full appetite. Fed as a drink immediately post calving, most cows drain the bucket before going to lick the calf and then go and take solid feed.

Farmers using ReStart report fewer milk fevers, reduced incidence of retained placenta, less displaced abomasums and fewer metabolic disorders during early lactation, as well as improved performance with fewer health problems in the subsequent lactation.

ReStart an essential product for all fresh calved cows

Good nutrition at calving is essential for optimum health, performance and profitability. It is not about feeding to cut costsGetting the feeding, housing and management of dry cows right through the dry period, and the through Transition, 3 weeks pre-calving to 3 week post calving, is more important than any other time. Transition management is key to herd health to fertility and to profitable milk production.

It is well worth putting some additional measures in place to minimise the effects of sub-clinical milk fever and to get the new calver fully rehydrated and back on feed and into lactation without problems.

Contact Richard Webster Nutrition for advice on feeding and for the
most extensive range of high quality feed inputs available.

For advice on designing effective dry cow and transition feed programmes, contact Richard Webster

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