The recently calved animal is the most inflammatory and metabolically fragile and therefore the most important animal on the farm, yet her needs are often only met once all the other groups of animals have been dealt with.
These should be your number one priority animals!
Some of the actions you can take to minimise disease and productivity problems in the recently calved animal (heifer or cow):
- Remove from springer cows and remove the calf as soon as possible (ASAP).
- Provide unrestricted (and at all times) feed ASAP that the cow can easily eat, that is palatable and that her rumen is adapted to. In-paddock trough trailers with high energy feeds plus calcium (i.e. palm kernel and calcium) are an ideal addition to pasture. These animals eat little and often. Leave high residuals. Not a time to introduce new high starch feeds.
- Provide some effective fibre (hay, straw) ASAP to help restore rumination rates, to minimise risk of displaced abomasum, to minimise risk of sub-acute rumen acidosis post-calving. Fibre intake can limit energy intake – palm kernel, maize silage feeds are finer particle energy sources that filter around the fibre in the rumen.
- Provide access to ad-lib palatable water ASAP.
- Milk out fully ASAP post-calving.
- Supplement with calcium ASAP. Essential. Heifers and cows. Transition Calcium boluses provide fast and longer acting calcium and fast acting energy and are good for cows 4 years and older and for problem/sick cows.
- At a minimum (sick, twin bearing, retained membranes, timid, thin, very fat, metabolic, assisted calving, short transition period, udder oedema cows and heifers) and ideally (all cows and heifers): provide monopropylene glycol (MPG) as a drench (e.g. Calstart or Starter Drench), inject with a high dose of vitamin B12 (e.g. Duomax 4000 B12, Prolaject 2000 B12 – both stimulate appetite and lead to glucose production, B12 also helps with tissue repair) and provide anti-inflammatories (e.g. Metacam® 40, Ketomax 15%, Rimadyl LA) to reduce pain and inflammation. Ketomax 15% and Rimadyl® LA have nil milk withholds.
- Provide shelter or put a cover on thin/problem cows during bad weather.
- Provide space – no back fencing.
- Keep in the colostrum mob until they are eating properly and until they have good rumen fill. Keep in for a minimum of 4 days. They could be in the mob for weeks (especially problem/sick cows or heifers).
- Milk once a day while in the colostrum mob.
- Check every colostrum cow twice daily for mastitis and teat spray every milking.
- Rapid Mastitis Test (RMT) all animals on the last day of their colostrum period.
- Stick to the recommended dry cow antibiotic withholds before putting into the main herd.
