milk fever?
 

What can you all tell me about milk fever? Can you direct me to some straightforward resources?

We've got a Jersey that we're drying off in May and calving in July. What do I need to know about feeding her during this time? What can I do in terms of prevention? What are the symptoms to look for? I was figuring I would have a calcium bolus on hand in case there's trouble, but I don't know much more than that. Thanks, Russ

www.real-food.com This is the best group of folks for ANYTHING related to a family milk cow or a dairy :thumb:

a calcium bolus isn't going to be much good if your animal goes down with milk fever.
You can get boluses to give her to try to prevent milk fever or even after to help with subclinical milk fever but if she goes down you'll need something else.
As for prevention we used to give them some stuff that came in something like a caulk tube. Nice grassy hay or even oat hay if you can get it will help

First off not all jerseys get milk fever, how old is your cow, and has she had it before. When you dryoff your cow feed her only grass hay during her dry period, this keeps her from building up to much calcium in her system before she calves. Things to look for if she has MF, cold ears and dry nose are two main things, if she is sluggish and sore footed, stand offish away from the herd. I use the calcium in the tubes also and have not had a vet out for my herd for as long as I can remember, for Milk fever. And the more you push your cows to get all the milk you can seems to have some affect on them also, so just pasture your cow and feed good quality hay during lactation(small amounts of grain are ok also) and only grass hay during dry period. And I always feed a good organic loose mineral all the time to my cows, and I also feed kelp. Hope this helps , > Thanks Marc

Thanks all, @springvalley, I had a friend say to keep her off the nice new pasture (grass hay) before she calves and feed her last years dry grass hay instead. This seems odd to me. What do you think? Is spring pasture going to cause calcium build-up? Thanks, Russ

it's not calcium buildup that causes the problem. It is the bodies inability to provide enough calcium. And yes a lot of literature recommends feeding grassy hay and waiting to pasture until after freshening specially if you have lots of clover or alfalfa in there.

only have to worry about pasture if it is clover or alfalfa, grass won`t matter. Mine are on pasture when they calve, and doesn`t seem to bother. Good luck. > Marc

There is a dairy guy in s. Id who only feeds alafala and has never had milk fever problems.

Then we had our dried up milk cow on grass and she was fed 1 rd bale of alfalfa and she had milk fever. Twas her 3rd time having it. The gal who we sold her to is going to control diet somehow and prepared with calcifresh or some such supplement.

The vet suggested culling her but shes to wonderful a cow for that.

I really wonder if there is a pat answer for prevention.

Nope, no pat answer for them, not all cows are the same and if they get milk fever, seems like they get it again. Maybe it`s genetic, not sure. As far as the guy that fed alfalfa and had no problems, maybe he had holstein cows, they don`t seem to have as much problems. > Thanks Marc

I read the U. of Kentucky blurb on milk fever. It mentions alfalfa and over-fertilized pasture as risk factors. My pasture has not been fertilized in years and is a mixture of grass hay with no alfalfa. It also mentions calcium gel after calving as a preventative measure.

I feel a little more safe. Is there any concern that new spring grass might have higher levels of potassium (the article mentions potassium) or anything else that might be a risk factor?

AGREE

research I have done basily says to ME ..THE PROBLEM IS IF YOU GIVE HER CALCIUM in any form her body gets to were it stops making calcium.


..then when her body gets ready to freshen it NEEDS a bunch of calcium..so the milk production pulls the calcium out of her system in a hurry if her body does not make it then she will be short....

.why the preventive is to give before she needs it ( day before freshening )and also after she needs it ( after she calves ) to equal out before her body can switch to making it in bunches


also why the Liquid treatment fixes them in a hour but sometimes they go back down...way behind in calcium her body can not produce fast enough


high production cows are the more prone to get it then heifers

AND TO ME Springvalley is right also this keeps her from building up to much calcium in her system before she calves

if she is given Calcium she will build it up and HER BODY WILL STOP MAKING IT..then when the crunch comes she runs out

if the cow is receiving lots of calcium pre freshening her body is used to getting the calcium from the feed and her bodies ability to draw from itself is shut down. The calcium level may be fine for growing a calf and maintenance but when milk flow starts and she needs to draw calcium from herself, the system is not working and can't restart fast enough. There is no buildup just a failure to respond quick enough since the feed had been providing enough up until then.
If she didn't have enough calcium in her system, jump starting with an IV would be no good since there would still be nothing for her to utilize once that wore off.

My vet explained to me what the others are saying about calcium in her diet. If she's getting it in her food, her body doesn't need to provide it for her. If her system is already primed to pull calcium reserves (not getting it from food) she's in a better position to fill the high demand for it when she calves.

Watch your cow closely in the days leading up to calving. If she looks slow or unsteady on her feet, she could be coming down with milk fever before she calves and it will hit hard when she does. After calving, she should be alert and attentive to her calf, have a good appetite, devour her grain and otherwise act normal. Anything she does that seems off, like laying down for too long, or not getting up to eat, not finishing her grain, not interested in her hay should be a signal to you that something isn't right. Having calcium supplements on hand is good, but you should also have a vet you trust in case you need him, or if you're lucky like me, you'll have dairy farmers right down the road who will come help if you need it.

If she does get milk fever, then you'll need to be prepared for ketosis too since her lack of appetite will push her into a negative energy balance setting the stage for ketosis.

I also am a firm believer that milk fever and ketosis go hand in hand, I have never treated a cow for ketosis unless she has had milk fever. I dont know what I`m doing better or differant than others, but I have very little Milk fever and ketosis problems. Knock on wood, I`m sticking with what I do. > Thanks Marc

Also, Sam that is basicly what I meant was the cow gets calcium and doesn`t have to draw her own. about the same thing , differant wording. Sorry for the foe-pa. > Thanks Marc

Thanks so much, soooo does anybody know if spring, green grass contains significantly more calcium than last year's hay from the barn? Enough to cause a calcium buildup and put her at risk for milk fever? Or, to put it another way, would you just let your heifer pasture leading up to a summer calving? Any reason NOT to pasture her on grass?

I would pasture her on grass just fine.

Educate yourself about milk fever( which you are doing).
Have the stuff you need to treat it onhand and keep your vet on speed-dial.
Those things alone will likely assure you she wont go down.

Most cows never ever get it. :)
Of the ones who do, most of them are treated early and recover just fine.

Some get it worse than others. I've decided it doesn't matter what you do to prevent it, if she's prone to it it's gonna happen. That being said, I try not to overfeed a cow prior to calving and keep some IV calcium on hand just in case. I've only had one case of it in 5 years calving out around 40 jerseys give or take a few.

It does seem like there is a genetic factor to it.
If your heifer's mama was prone to milk fever, chances are much greater that she will be too.
That has been my experience, at least.

Cold ears are a sure sign of it.
Feel that cows ears now and then, so you know what normal is. :)

Oh, One thing I forgot to mention is I don`t milk my cows out all the way for the first few days. I have had a lot of people say your going to get mastitis that way. Well I don`t, my cows do just fine, the calf wouldn`t milk her out all the way if it was only one milking that cow. So the first day I only milk out about half way, second day a bit more and third day for sure all the way milked out. This may be why I don`t have much trouble with MF, maybe it`s just the big guy upstairs watchin over a fool, I don`t know for sure. But I don`t have trouble with cows getting mastitis either from doing this. > God Bless America, > Thanks Marc

We do this as well, as a prevention are vet came up with a program where if we have high risk cows we give then 35cc 15% phosphrous injection once a day as the get close to calveing that has cut down a ton. Cold ears are a sign and also watch for the S-curve neck. The body is demanding calcium to make milk, if her metabalism isn't right she will pull from the muscle instead of the bones and reserves make the muscles too weak to support her. When the muscles loose calcium for some reason they hold their heads funny, if you stand behind them their necks are in a S shape. If a cow has cold ears or looks shakey after calving we give them a bottle of calcium under the skin and that is usually enough to ward it off so grabbing a needle and an IV tube might be a good investment. Milk fever is not hereditary per say but the high producers are most at risk, the more milk they want to make the more Ca they will draw. Once they have had it they will be more prone to it, but unless we bring them back from near death or something it really isn't a factor in culling decisions.