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Managing transition cows well improves herd health and the bottom line
University of Wisconsin dairy nutrition expert Dr. Randy Shaver says managing transition cows well benefits herd health and the bottom line. Shaver tells Brownfield producers need to pay close attention to transition cows.
“Trying to get them in that pre-fresh ration for say, three to four weeks, and then kind of a post-fresh approach for another three to four weeks, and then it’s not just feeding but it’s also some of the treatments and the consistency, and then managing through any metabolic disorders.”
Shaver says problems with transition cows means more time and costly treatment is needed. “If we have any problems in that transition period whether it’s milk fever, low blood calcium, whether it’s the ketosis issues, those are just cows that we have a harder and harder time to get pregnant and we just keep losing production on those animals.”
Shaver says properly managing the little things adds up. “The research would show that a good transition program is worth about two thousand pounds of milk in that next lactation (per cow) and so in these times with low milk prices, that’s just not something you can give up.”
The Professional Dairy Producers held Transition Cow Workshops this week in Eau Claire and Appleton.
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