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Faunsdale, AL | Careful about that!
In dairy cattle, especially Jerseys that are prone to get milk fever (hypocalcemia) feeding extra calcium tends to make the number of cases go up. You would do well to feed an adequate amount of a Ca:P balanced mineral according to the forages your cattle are eating and if anything, cut it out a few weeks before due date so the cow gets the system of pulling it out of her bones revved up and working.
The only intervention that really reduces the incidence of hypocalcemia is to feed anionic salts like -Cl and -SO4 and cut out salt NaCl. Examples are CaCl and NH4SO4. These tend to taste pretty bad so they’re really only going to be consumed readily in a mixed ration. Silages can work well to mask the taste but need to be limited so weight gain isn’t excessive. When feeding anionic salts in the 3 weeks prior to due date, a higher level of calcium is normally fed, but as above, ONLY when feeding anionic salts.
There is certainly a link between milk fever and uterine prolapse, but it’s not a strong link since you’ll see a lot of either one that doesn’t also have the other at the same time. In beef cattle the incidence of the two is probably closer to the same than in dairy. Two fairly rare things that occasionally happen to the same cow at the same time!
There is a lot of randomness with uterine prolapse. Thank goodness! I would have seen a ton more prolapses than I ever have. We used to milk around 1000 Jerseys and until I started feeding anionic salts to the close to calving groups, I went through a LOT of calcium IV solution! Even after that I used some but probably less than 1/4.
Edited by ccjersey 3/10/2024 16:00
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Causes of uterine prolapse?
