advice on cow with milk fever.

mf240

Right had cow calve Sunday night, yesterday morning she was down so vet put two bottles into the blood. She popped up 20 minutes later. I left her be and then milked her yesterday evening and left her back into straw bed.

She was down again this morning, vet gave her one bottle into blood and one under skin. And she's up now. Should I give her more under skin tonight or will she be ok. is there anything I can give her in the meal that contains calcium.?

biddy2013

mf240 wrote: »

Right had cow calve Sunday night, yesterday morning she was down so vet put two bottles into the blood. She popped up 20 minutes later. I left her be and then milked her yesterday evening and left her back into straw bed.

She was down again this morning, vet gave her one bottle into blood and one under skin. And she's up now. Should I give her more under skin tonight or will she be ok. is there anything I can give her in the meal that contains calcium.?

someone on here said you can give too much calcium, if it was me i would give her a bottle under the skin this evening. There used to be a paste you could get from osmonds but i dont think its around any more

Timmaay

Has she got a bottle of mg also?? If I'm giving a cow 2 bottles of calcium I always give a bottle of magnesium as well, it balances up the ratio of both in her body. Under the skin also, definitely dont give the mg IV. This doesn't your original question mf 2bh, if a cow has got 4 bottles of calcium then she surely isnt still deficient, all you can do now is keep her off anywhere slippy where she might go down again, and find it very hard to get back up after the stress of the last few days.

Actually I've got afew bags of calcium dusting power, they were quite cheap, I'm not using them yet as the cows are getting plenty minerals in the nuts and on top of the silage, but once they go out to grass I'll start dusting it ontop of the silage. I've heard it helps with fertility also, worth a shot!

longgonesilver

There is a product called limestone flour that you dose them with. It is not a cure for milk fever but can help stop them getting it or relapsing. It is the lime that is spread in the fields only very finely ground. Only partly milk her for a few days.

MFdaveIreland

A preventive measure in future is to feed dry cows low K silage as potassium has a negative charge as does calcium, and when in blood repels calcium from being absorbed from bones , know a few doing it

Gillespy

Bovikalc bolus are quite good. Give one with bottle calcium and another 12 hours later. We give one to any cow we deem risky too, ie bigger, older cows or ones with a history of milk fever.

delaval

Bottle under the skin and don't fully milk out for a day or two

6480

i find hay is better to give to them when they get up , have a few cases of it already this year ,

farmersfriend

Milk once a day and keep her on straw bed.

Blue Holland

Anyone using the low volume calciject 100 ml bottles, do ya think it's as good as normal stuff, supposed to be epuivalent to bigger bottle but less or no mg in it. Used it last year for cases like mf240's. Comes in box of 8 with a 100ml syringe and needles.

farmersfriend

Blue Holland wrote: »

Anyone using the low volume calciject 100 ml bottles, do ya think it's as good as normal stuff, supposed to be epuivalent to bigger bottle but less or no mg in it. Used it last year for cases like mf240's. Comes in box of 8 with a 100ml syringe and needles.

We tried them one year but find we get a better reaction from the big bottles.

Timmaay

Always have afew here, they are very very handy for when you are under pressure or on your own etc. I can't say I've noticed much of a difference with them over the 400ml bottles, however I try to get one of each into the cow, with the 400 iv, them the bottle of mg.

Blue Holland

Anyone using D3 injection on likely candidates for milk fever?

Greengrass1

Have a cow down since yesterday. Not looking good

biddy2013

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Have a cow down since yesterday. Not looking good

Did you give her some magnesium too

Greengrass1

Nope. Should have. Will do now though

Blue Holland

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Nope. Should have. Will do now though

Vet here puts some phosphorus into bottle of calcium that he puts in vein, supposed to give em a boost. Must work cause he's got better succes rate than me.;)

biddy2013

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Nope. Should have. Will do now though

under the skin

farmersfriend

Blue Holland wrote: »

Anyone using D3 injection on likely candidates for milk fever?

Works well if u can time it right. If left too close to calving it Will not do any good.

Blue Holland

farmersfriend wrote: »

Works well if u can time it right. If left too close to calving it Will not do any good.

Recommended 3-8 days before, don't think I've ever seen it fail in that time frame, near 10 Euro a go though. Heard that it can increase chance of milk fever if they were to go over the 8 days, not sure any truth in that.

farmingmad10

All cows here once they reach their 4th calving I give a bottle of calcium. Give her calciject into the skin. Put on oad for a while if you can. It's obviously a stressful time for her. Make sure calmag is in the meal.

visatorro

Can you put the bottle into the milk vien underneath the cow or does it have to be in the neck?

Also when you say give one under the skin, where do you give this one.

If you give mag, where do you give this?

whelan2

visatorro wrote: »

Can you put the bottle into the milk vien underneath the cow or does it have to be in the neck?

Also when you say give one under the skin, where do you give this one.

If you give mag, where do you give this?

mag is only under the skin, you can put a diluted -with calcium- bottle in the vein but if wrong dose cow can die. There is a small bit of mag in calcium bottles. I normally give calcium in the milk vein. I give the one inder the skin just behing the shoulder

keep going

Chatting to our vet today and he said alot of milk fever around west cork already this year and in places that hadnt in years

jaymla627

keep going wrote: »

Chatting to our vet today and he said alot of milk fever around west cork already this year and in places that hadnt in years

Probably a case of cows being milked on later and been under conditioned.
Will be a area that will trip a lot of lads up if they're extending days in milk but not compensating with extra feed in late lactation to have cows set up for calving where they have a short dry period and aren't allowed put on extra condition

Milked out

jaymla627 wrote: »

Probably a case of cows being milked on later and been under conditioned.
Will be a area that will trip a lot of lads up if they're extending days in milk but not compensating with extra feed in late lactation to have cows set up for calving where they have a short dry period and aren't allowed put on extra condition

Would associate milk fever more with over conditioned cows and high yielders, under conditioned cows I'd put more with retained placenta and lacking energy post calving rather than clinical milk fever anyway. Have had one case in 37 calvings so far this spring, again a cow that tends to put a good bit on her back but has a good drop of milk too. A other possible issue is lads cutting back on minerals without having blooded to save costs or high k silage

mf240

Im giving flomag in the water to dry cows on vets advice . Seems to be working.

I also give cows some lime mixed in meal to cows after calving .

Fat cows are at bigger risk than thin cows.