Herd Health

Does your transition cow program include administrating calcium to treat milk fever? Do you also use calcium treatments to help cows transition into lactation? If so, it’s time to re-examine your program and try something different.

“Implementation of best management practices for transition cows will plausibly improve metabolic health, immune function and regulation of inflammation,” says Luciano Caixeta, DVM, Ph.D., and associate professor at the University of Minnesota.

When a cow becomes pregnant, some of the nutrients it consumes will be used by the developing calf. There is no other time in the calf’s life when the development of tissues, organs and systems is occurring as rapidly as early weeks in utero.

For many years, the expectations for high milk production along with excellent herd health and reproductive performance were considered at odds with each other. It was believed you should not and could not expect to achieve high milk yields without compromising herd health and reproductive performance.

The more time we spend following the right fresh cow protocols, the better the young cows will perform throughout the lactation.

From coast to coast, the Canadian climate sees large variations in levels of heat and humidity, but even a few days of elevated temperatures and moisture in the air can cause a dairy cow to experience heat stress and the negative impacts on production, reproduction and health that follow.