Is extra calcium at pre-calving going against the grain?
Extra calcium pre-calving has eradicated milk fever & improved fertility.
L-R John Thompson, Harold Stevenson, Dr Andrew Pine
Two pedigree Holstein herds suffering crippling milk fever and retained foetal membranes have seen a complete transformation in results when a new concept in dry cow nutrition was introduced via pre-calver feed on their units.
Mac Dunlop, who farms an 8,300 litre, autumn calving herd near Larne in Northern Ireland, suffered terrible problems with milk fever during his most recent calving season, particularly amongst cows in their second or more lactation. His dry cow feeding regime followed the conventional approach of reducing calcium availability to the animal in the last 3-4 weeks, which he believed to be correct, but the situation got so bad that two animals had to be destroyed.
Eventually, Mac was introduced by David Mawhinney (technical manager of GE McLarnon & Sons) to Dr Andrew Pine, Premier Nutrition’s director of ruminant nutrition, who recommended a radical change in thinking. “The provision of extra calcium is generally considered a major challenge to milk fever, if typical dry cow nutrition advice is followed”, explained Dr Pine. “However, the facts are that there are other causes of milk fever, for example potash, sodium and DCAD, that cause a change in the cow’s blood chemistry and in fact calcium supply to the dry cow is essential in the last 3-4 weeks in order to help reduce uterine infection, improve muscle function and ensure trouble-free calving.”
Calcium status is critical to the correct functioning of the calcium-dependent muscles of the rumen and uterine wall and without it cows can encounter problems such as reduced feed intake, displaced abomasum, difficult calvings and retained foetal membranes. Calcium is also a key component of the immune system, which during the transition period is understood to be at a low ebb and less able to fight the infectious challenges encountered during this period.
A change to a new McLarnons dry cow concentrate formulated to work with Premier’s extra calcium pre-calver resulted in the cases of milk fever stopping almost immediately. In fact, Mac also saw cows reaching peak yields earlier and more easily and, of course, had significantly reduced vet bills.
Retained foetal membranes
Extra calcium also helped in the case of difficult calvings on John Thompson’s high merit, 130 head pedigree unit near Katesbridge, Northern Ireland. Whilst he wasn’t suffering any problems with milk fevers, a recent history of retained foetal membranes was causing significant problems and John was keen to solve the issue and return to his high production targets.
Once again, Dr Pine predicted how the extra calcium pre-calver with a balanced dry cow ration could help and it was trialled to measure results.
“We can safely say that this quantum change approach to pre-calver calcium levels has seen nothing but significant improvements for our customers”, said Harold Stevenson, John’s nutritional advisor from McLarnons Feeds. “For the trial cows, RFMs were eliminated and John has seen healthier cows post-calving, better fertility and a quicker return to milk yields. Needless to say this feeding regime has been implemented across his whole herd.”
“With the never ending pressure on milk production, access to this sort of expertise makes such a significant difference to our customers” Harold concludes.
