Transition cow

[jimmer]

Kextone boluses, warm water energy drink , temperature checks, and the rest of the new fangled things some people do to fresh calvers

is it really worth it

 

[Gilchro]

Part yes, part no...

Get it wrong now and it'll take 365 days (at least) to finish causing you problems so insurance can often be worth it under the current system on farm

And this is where the bigger question lies, what is wrong with the system that is causing it (and where the part no answer lies)?
Know of one farm, it was moving the dry cows out of the "Dungeon" as the farmer and I christened it was the solution to most of the dry cow problems

 

[jimmer]

i am happy with how things were last year (we start calving the holsteins in a month hence this thread) but wonder if there is a bit extra we could do to tighten up the calving block

 

[dinderleat]

We've started using ketexonne on cows with a longer lactation lengths/a little fat. But I think the best thing is a good transition diet at least three weeks before calving basically making sure they get good dry matter intakes before and after calving.

 

[Sweepa]

Red bull?

 

[Blue.]

Had my dry cows on 5kilos of straw with silage winter 13/14 they did well apart from the ones carrying twins this winter they just had silage as I had a mountain,then xelit running up to calving,they did well till March and it all went well and truly fecked,we couldn't put our finger on it but had into the teens of twists,the amount of cows we've pumped up has been unreal.

Vet says were in a twist season,one lass had 8 in the week and were only with a small 2vet practice.

 

[More to life]

Thin cows and 6kg of straw a day plus what ever you have to balance it don't feed grass to dry Holsteins 3-4 weeks pre calving. The biggest influence on a transition cow is lactation length 365 day calving interval and you get few problems. I like to get them off the calf and onto the milkers ration at the next milking could be in an hour.We get a few milk fevers but have not had a da for 2 years touch wood .

 

[buffalo_soldier]

Tried some of them kextone things as well, time to buy some shares methinks.
Think offering fresh water is a good thing but I don't think those energy packs add anything and if they do its short lived anyway.
Calve at grass but offer tmr in feeders

 

[multi power]

Sufficient fibre to ensure a full rumen pre calving and then step up the energy levels and things shouldn't go far wrong. Don't forget plenty of mag in the two weeks pre calving

 

[Blue.]

Thin cows and 6kg of straw a day plus what ever you have to balance it don't feed grass to dry Holsteins 3-4 weeks pre calving. The biggest influence on a transition cow is lactation length 365 day calving interval and you get few problems. I like to get them off the calf and onto the milkers ration at the next milking could be in an hour.We get a few milk fevers but have not had a da for 2 years touch wood .

We have only had a couple of Da's in 3years till this March,I think getting some silage cut with the spfh last summer hasn't helped.

 

[Blue.]

I think part of my problems is fat cows,anyone have a sliming group?

 

[dinderleat]

You could have two groups one fed 5kgs of straw and 12kgs of grass silage for fat cows and the other group same but + 3kgs of dry cow rolls fed twice a day?

 

[jimmer]

not had a da for over a year , tub ground hay and straw a tiny bit of silage to make palatable, minerals and gypsum , trying a six week dry period this year instead of 8

whats the crack with these kextone things then , i was talking to a 11,700 litre avg chap a few weeks back and he said he does every cow , and it has been the one thing he can say that put him over 11k

 

[happycows]

I like the animax tracesure bolus at drying off (i give 2 as most of the cows are well over 550kgs) fiberous round bale silage and transition minerals and then warm water and a slug of glycol at calving. Tried the aggers fresh calver but not cheap. I've used dry cow rolls but not cheap either but with the animax you are sure they have had a good dose and works hopefully till they are incalf again.
cow condition is also a large part of the whole thing going smoothly.

 

[More to life]

I think part of my problems is fat cows,anyone have a sliming group?

Don't try and move weight in dry cows it only makes things worse like dinderleat I use kextone on my fat cows can't say if it makes any difference .

 

[Gilchro]

Body condition should not be altered in the dry period...
It needs to be worked on before you get there. It's either that or stock up on magic powders, get them milking again and then work on BCS.

 

[bovine]

You could write text books on this - spend days discussing it.

Few bullet points:

1. Intake in dry period is vital, and just as important as what that diet is made up of. Look for minimum of 12kg DMI.
2. Fresh food in front of the cows - every day if possible.
   
3. Straw works well to dilute the energy from grass or maize, but needs to be chopped to get the intakes.
   
4. The Cow Signals guys talk about the 'danger triangle ' you don't want hollow flanks.
5. 8 week dry period works best with 2 diets, transition diet for last 3 weeks minimum
   1. 1. transition diet should contain same ingredients as milking cow ration, not necessarily in same ratios
6. Single diet can work well (100MJ/day) but aim for a shorter dry period ~6 weeks (ideal for smaller herds).
   
7. Free access to lots of clean water
   
8. Dry period start and end biggest risks for picking up mastitis, so must be as clean as milkers
9. Ideally maintain body condition in dry period, some people have dropped up to half a point in the early dry period and gotten away with it.
   
   1. 1. I'd consider having a very fat cow dry for as short as possible, 5 weeks
10. Manage body condition in later lactation so that the cow dries off no fatter than BCS 3.5
11. 60g of magnesium per day
12. Care with grass based diets and milk fever - knowing the potassium is vital.
    
13. Avoid too many group changes (dry off once per week?)
14. Calving is tiring and I do think the drinks are a very good idea. You can offer them ration ASAP and they eat it. This has to be good.
15. Milk them as soon as you can after calving and get the calf off the cow.
16. Investigate problems promptly (DAs, whites, retained cleansings).
17. Kexxtone are useful to get yourself out of bother for individual animals, but are not an ongoing sustainable thing for all cows.
    1. 1. Fat cows, cows that have had a DA, thin cows or cows carrying twins is where I would target them
18. Manage cows with twins
    1. 1. Dry off a week earlier
       2. Move onto transition diet minimum of 4 weeks before calving (maybe even dry off into that group)
       3. Kexxtone
       4. Glycol after calving
       5. Oxytocin after calving
19. Taking temperatures is just acknowledging you have a problem and trying to find it happening sooner - stop the problem in the first place.
20. Get the feet sorted at drying off

 

[Blue.]

I was meaning a sliming group pre drying off.

Lost one of my cows last summer,while housed dry (did the splits) threw my dry cows outside and thought I'll calve them outside this year,lost one the other morning drowned in the pond,ffs they are worse than sheep.

 

[Gilchro]

I was meaning a sliming group pre drying off.

Lost one of my cows last summer,while housed dry (did the splits) threw my dry cows outside and thought I'll calve them outside this year,lost one the other morning drowned in the pond,ffs they are worse than sheep.

So are they outside for calving for the first time?

 

[buffalo_soldier]

whats the crack with these kextone things then

Kexxtone are useful to get yourself out of bother for individual animals, but are not an ongoing sustainable thing for all cows.

1. 1. Fat cows, cows that have had a DA, thin cows or cows carrying twins is where I would target them

Advice im getting is to use them like the above.
Had 12 cows in my late calving group last year. First 2 to calve went DA so did the whole group with kexxtone.
Its the £15 a go that puts me off a whole herd protocol.