Feeding dry cows before calving

JOAT

In the week or two before calving do lads change the diet much to build the cow up for calving? Cows would be high yielders but would be in good BCS at calving. We used to always give a cow 1 to 2kg of dairy ration before calving but going by the experts this isn't advisable due to the cal mag causing milk fever issues. Would a normal 16% beef ration be good enough to give an extra bit of energy? There was a mention of feeding straight barley but not sure what the best thing to do is? Cheers

mahoney_j

JOAT wrote: »

In the week or two before calving do lads change the diet much to build the cow up for calving? Cows would be high yielders but would be in good BCS at calving. We used to always give a cow 1 to 2kg of dairy ration before calving but going by the experts this isn't advisable due to the cal mag causing milk fever issues. Would a normal 16% beef ration be good enough to give an extra bit of energy? There was a mention of feeding straight barley but not sure what the best thing to do is? Cheers

Once cows hit calving pens 5 days or so pre calving they get 2 kg of easy calver (oats/soya and pre calver mineral pack )along with silage/straw .no meal before that only silage and pre calver mineral

yosemitesam1

JOAT wrote: »

In the week or two before calving do lads change the diet much to build the cow up for calving? Cows would be high yielders but would be in good BCS at calving. We used to always give a cow 1 to 2kg of dairy ration before calving but going by the experts this isn't advisable due to the cal mag causing milk fever issues. Would a normal 16% beef ration be good enough to give an extra bit of energy? There was a mention of feeding straight barley but not sure what the best thing to do is? Cheers

If its working I wouldn't change anything, from 6 weeks to about 10 days pre calving is the most important for having low calcium

Mooooo

I include maize with the grass silage as that's what they'll be getting after it along with minerals. If silage was low protein I may put in a kg or two of meal to up it a bit. Once they don't get the post calving minerals you should be fine.
If they are getting silage/meal only post calving maybe a bit of beef meal to get used to meal for 10 days before calving if practical to do so

JOAT

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

JOAT wrote: »

In the week or two before calving do lads change the diet much to build the cow up for calving? Cows would be high yielders but would be in good BCS at calving. We used to always give a cow 1 to 2kg of dairy ration before calving but going by the experts this isn't advisable due to the cal mag causing milk fever issues. Would a normal 16% beef ration be good enough to give an extra bit of energy? There was a mention of feeding straight barley but not sure what the best thing to do is? Cheers

If its working I wouldn't change anything, from 6 weeks to about 10 days pre calving is the most important for having low calcium

Thing is we get 2 or 3 cases of milk fever every year out of maybe 80 calving. Going by that I would suspect a good few others have sub clinical milk fever that don't get picked up hence why I'm toying around with the idea of removing the dairy meal pre calving because of the minerals but still giving them something to build them up for the parlour with enough energy.
Would the oats result in easier calving compared to a beef mix?

alps

Just on a point of information .. cal mag does not have calcium in it...

Cal Mag is Calcined Magnesite and is a source of magnesium, not calcium. Calcined is simply the process it undergoes to reduce it to a powder.

C0N0R

alps wrote: »

Just on a point of information .. cal mag does not have calcium in it...

Cal Mag is Calcined Magnesite and is a source of magnesium, not calcium. Calcined is simply the process it undergoes to reduce it to a powder.

It's lime flour you want to watch out for??

We got a pallet of dry cow nuts here before and found them a good job, high levels of mag but low calcium levels, also meant cows were getting a kg or two prior to calving so When they hit the parlour you could transition them quicker.

yosemitesam1

JOAT wrote: »

Thing is we get 2 or 3 cases of milk fever every year out of maybe 80 calving. Going by that I would suspect a good few others have sub clinical milk fever that don't get picked up hence why I'm toying around with the idea of removing the dairy meal pre calving because of the minerals but still giving them something to build them up for the parlour with enough energy.
Would the oats result in easier calving compared to a beef mix?

Probably worth a try, have you ever done any blood tests or test silage for potassium levels?

blackdog1

Get your silage tested see if it's deficient in lime. I give 2 kg of barley /oats mix with call mag and lime if needed. Also have 100grammes of minerals per cow in the mix.

C4d78

mahoney_j wrote: »

Once cows hit calving pens 5 days or so pre calving they get 2 kg of easy calver (oats/soya and pre calver mineral pack )along with silage/straw .no meal before that only silage and pre calver mineral

Mahony_j Does the easy calver contain adequate minerals for last 5 days or would they be below the spec you'd get in your top pre calver minerals?
Do you stop feeding the pre calver minerals once they go on this nut?
Considered trying a transition nut this year just unsure if I should continue to feed the minerals or not.

mahoney_j

C4d78 wrote: »

Mahony_j Does the easy calver contain adequate minerals for last 5 days or would they be below the spec you'd get in your top pre calver minerals?
Do you stop feeding the pre calver minerals once they go on this nut?
Considered trying a transition nut this year just unsure if I should continue to feed the minerals or not.

Yes ,should of said it includes a transition cow pack rather than dry cow mineral pack ,slightly different .no I don't feed pre calver as well .works well as high in p which leads to higher quality colostrum .also sets cows rumen up to transition to meal in parlour