Dry Cow Special

29 DECEMBER 2015

A cows lactation may begin with the act of calving, but the performance of that lactation can be traced right the way back through her transition period, her dry period and even back to the end of her previous lactation. The dry and transition periods of a cow have a huge impact on the incidence of metabolic disorders such as milk fever, retained foetal membrane and ketosis. Those periods are also directly related to egg quality and therefore to fertility into lactation.

The big question is: What are the options for managing dry cows to maximise lactation performance?

LOW CALCIUM OR 0% CALCIUM

The ideal dry cow diet is one that provides little or no calcium (30g per day). unfortunately, this is almost completely unachievable, especially on our predominantly grass silage based diets where the forage alone could be providing in excess of double that. where alternative forages are available that can help, but the use of a calcium binder can simulate the same effect on any.

Just like a mycotoxin binder carries mycotoxins safely through the cow, a calcium binder prevents the cow from absorbing calcium, whilst ensuring there is still an adequate supply in the bloodstream, by stimulating the cows’ own calcium mobilising systems. This creates a perfect balance of calcium in the cow around the time of calving, which greatly reduces the risk of milk fever, held cleansings, ketosis and twisted stomachs.

DCAB & Partial DCAB Systems DCAB stands for Dietary Cation Anion Balance and measures the balance of positive and negative ions within the cows’ diet. The ions that are measured come from Potassium (K) and Sodium (Na) on the positive side, and from Chloride (Cl) and Sulphur (S) on the negative side.