Minerals and calving difficulties?

[AftonShepherd]

Can a lack of any particular mineral be responsible for cows not opening up properly? I have had to assist both a heifer and a calved heifer in the last 24 hours despite not getting the calving jack dirty last year. Both calves had quite a bit of fluid in their lungs so don't think I was jumping in too soon. Only 7 out of 70 calved so far so a relatively high proportion even if heifers and calves doing fine.

The reason I asked about minerals is that we've always bolused cows in February as well as adding the recommended amount of a powdered mineral through the mixer wagon but at this year's vet meeting the vet thought that was overkill, the habit of bolusing just predated when we started adding minerals to their feed (before I was involved) so it was agreed to try not bolusing. The powdered mineral has extra vitamin E (will check how much later) and was recommended by mineral company following a silage analysis.

Just wondering whether to up the minerals in the feed a wee bit or if we've just been unlucky?

 

[Bill dog]

When was the last time you did a blood sample of your cows? The bolus may have been keeping the cows at a better level or not ! It’s always good to know where your at as a starting off point ! Hope the calving goes well !

 

[Blaithin]

I know low calcium can make them stall. Otherwise

 

[Top Tip.]

Can a lack of any particular mineral be responsible for cows not opening up properly? I have had to assist both a heifer and a calved heifer in the last 24 hours despite not getting the calving jack dirty last year. Both calves had quite a bit of fluid in their lungs so don't think I was jumping in too soon. Only 7 out of 70 calved so far so a relatively high proportion even if heifers and calves doing fine.

The reason I asked about minerals is that we've always bolused cows in February as well as adding the recommended amount of a powdered mineral through the mixer wagon but at this year's vet meeting the vet thought that was overkill, the habit of bolusing just predated when we started adding minerals to their feed (before I was involved) so it was agreed to try not bolusing. The powdered mineral has extra vitamin E (will check how much later) and was recommended by mineral company following a silage analysis.

Just wondering whether to up the minerals in the feed a wee bit or if we've just been unlucky?

Personally when it comes to minerals I tend to go belt and braces. We bolus in January and they also get precalver tubs. I have tried bolus alone but it wasn’t enough . Be careful of blood sampling as our bloods were coming back ok ,it wasn’t until we did a forage mineral analysis that we got to the bottom of the problem.

 

[AftonShepherd]

Personally when it comes to minerals I tend to go belt and braces. We bolus in January and they also get precalver tubs. I have tried bolus alone but it wasn’t enough . Be careful of blood sampling as our bloods were coming back ok ,it wasn’t until we did a forage mineral analysis that we got to the bottom of the problem.

I'll see how rest of calving goes, calves are certainly vigorous enough so can't be any massive problems. Maybe just bad luck (or good luck last year when jack wasn't used at all)

 

[ShooTa]

calcium can cause prolapses in sheep - so assuming similar for coos.

 

[Limcrazy]

Low levels of iodine??
Possible that boluses weren't in long enough before calving sometimes I think this is why after a few weeks these problems resolve themselves.
Could pour a bit of iodine on them to boost it for a week or 2.

 

[Extreme Optimist]

We had huge issues a few years ago. Partiularly heifers not pushing whilst giving birth. Also found that the bond between cows/heifers and calves was not as strong. There was a period when I was having to put 5 calves onto their own mothers for a period of about a week. I rang my vet and he immidiately said Calcium:Magnesium balance. He suggested feeding high Mag minerals (bagged inside, buckets outside) for approx 1 month pre calving. The difference was miraculous. Calvings were easy and they all took straight to their calves.

I should add that I calve AYR

 

[Northeastfarmer]

We had huge issues a few years ago. Partiularly heifers not pushing whilst giving birth. Also found that the bond between cows/heifers and calves was not as strong. There was a period when I was having to put 5 calves onto their own mothers for a period of about a week. I rang my vet and he immidiately said Calcium:Magnesium balance. He suggested feeding high Mag minerals (bagged inside, buckets outside) for approx 1 month pre calving. The difference was miraculous. Calvings were easy and they all took straight to their calves.

I should add that I calve AYR

So I’m guessing you have to feed those minerals all year round...

 

[Extreme Optimist]

So I’m guessing you have to feed those minerals all year round...

Yep, but not really an issue as I bring the ones that are a month prior to calving inside every night so that I can watch them with the camera. It also means that I can at least regulate their diet a bit and try and stp them getting too fat through the summer

 

[Treg]

Can a lack of any particular mineral be responsible for cows not opening up properly? I have had to assist both a heifer and a calved heifer in the last 24 hours despite not getting the calving jack dirty last year. Both calves had quite a bit of fluid in their lungs so don't think I was jumping in too soon. Only 7 out of 70 calved so far so a relatively high proportion even if heifers and calves doing fine.

The reason I asked about minerals is that we've always bolused cows in February as well as adding the recommended amount of a powdered mineral through the mixer wagon but at this year's vet meeting the vet thought that was overkill, the habit of bolusing just predated when we started adding minerals to their feed (before I was involved) so it was agreed to try not bolusing. The powdered mineral has extra vitamin E (will check how much later) and was recommended by mineral company following a silage analysis.

Just wondering whether to up the minerals in the feed a wee bit or if we've just been unlucky?

We've had problems here with lack of Phos stopping them from pushing .
What's in the bolus? Is it specific to your farms needs ?
Is there any historical mineral deficiencies your aware of?