Formulating ruminant health for farm excellence
Calving is the most difficult and challenging phase in the life of a dairy cow. Her body will prepare to start the next lactation and without adequate nutrition and management, her health will deteriorate and profit will decrease. The focus, therefore, should be more on the prevention of health issues by taking care of the daily nutrition – especially during pre- and post- calving phases instead of treating the health issues once they occur. Formulating for optimal health will prepare the cow for a smoother calving and for an improved lactation after calving.
BY DEEPAK DUBEY, PHD, KEMIN EUROPA N.V I 2.5 Normal 2.0 Sub- Clinical 1.5 1.0 0.5 0
1234 Lactation number
Source: (Reinhardt et al., 2011) 567
Subclinical hypocalcaemia
77.8
Milk Fever
1% 4% 6% 10% 8% 13% 25% 41% 49% 51% 54% 42%
Figure 2 - Association of subclinical hypocalcaemia with metritis in a high-risk situation. % Incidences of metritis
Normocalcaemia 20
n formulating a ruminant health programme, Kemin fo- cuses on both the pre- and post-calving phase in dairy cows. In this article, we give you a clearer overview of the importance and pitfalls about the pre-calving phase in
the cow’s life.
The pre-calving phase A critical time in the dry period is the last three weeks before calving, also known as the “close-up” period. During this time, the cow is preparing to start her next lactation. Without adequate nutrition and management, cows can calve in and
Figure 1 - Association of hypocalcaemia with the lactation number. 3.0
Today’s biggest concern with pre-calving phase Today’s concern is not actually clinical disease and its treatment cost, but instead focuses on “subclinical metabolic disorders” which affect you very badly. Metabolic disorder i.e. subclinical hypocalcaemia (SCH) is considered as “a gateway disease” because it is associated with increased risk of periparturient problems that have long-term consequences to production, reproduction, and survival. Research findings clearly indicate that cows are more susceptible to hypocalcaemia as the lactation number increases (Figure 1).
Subclinical hypocalcaemia effects beyond milk fever In 2014, Martinez and coworkers studied the impact of subclinical hypocalcaemia beyond milk fever. They induced SCH through 5% ethylene glycol tetra acetic acid (intravenous infusion) treatment for 24 hours. They reported that SCH significantly (* P<0.01) reduced dry matter intake, increased
fade quickly and lose potential income for you. The close-up dry phase needs to be considered a high atten- tion area that sets the stage for how well the cow will per- form after calving. We all know that dry cows should be moved to the close-up pen before their due date, but where does this recommenda- tion come from? For a lactating cow to be successful, she needs to be able to mobilise calcium from her bones. This process can take 10 to 15 days. Without adequate time to pre- pare for lactation, milk fever can be a major issue. By chang- ing the diets provided during the close-up period, not only are we allowing time for the cow to begin to mobilise calci- um, she also needs time for her rumen to adapt to the forag- es and higher energy diets which are essential to absorb nu- trients and prevent problems after calving.
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▶ COW HEALTH | AUGUST 2020
Calcium (mM)
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