Can you help me with a feeding plan?

[nextyear]

Back story.... our jersey cross cow was super malnourished when we got her, she gained back to a good condition (and then some unfortunately) she’s currently a bit overweight. This is her second calf but she’s been dry for the last year. She currently gets a handful of grain and all you can eat hay of ok quality roundbale (nothing fancy, has some weeds but baled in good conditions-not dusty or moldy).

I don’t know what her milk production is like other than the fact that the previous owner raised four calves on her, at once. Her bag doesn’t look all that big yet so I’m not really sure how she managed that but maybe a lot will change.

She is due April 9th. We noticed she was in heat, let the bull in with her, we watched him jump her multiple times and she has not come back in heat. She was never preg checked but were very confident of that date.

I purchased x-zelit because of her over conditioning. I also have the cmpk tubes but really don’t want to give those if I don’t have to (I worry about getting it in her lungs) How should we approach increasing her grain (when/by how much)? What should the target grain amount be to start milking? The grain we have is 20% protein I believe (we just had to switch feed mills and her current handful of grain has been 16% up to this point). Is there anything else that I should be aware of as we approach calving? I’m so nervous. We have beef cows but it’s more of a “oh look #15 had her calf” mixed with the very occasional pulling of a calf. We’ve never messed with changing feeding or had any issues whatsoever with milk fever/ketosis/mastitis....all the common dairy issues.... if you could hand hold me through a plan of what I should do, I would greatly appreciate it!! Thanks!

Add on- what should I expect when she calves? Do I start milking after the calf gets it’s first meal? Do I wait a couple days to start milking? Would you personally test the milk before drinking or if everything seems to be going smooth just start using it? I spoke with my vet who is also a commercial dairy farmer (but drinks their own raw milk) she said the milk born disease like tb and brucellosis are so rare in our state (NY) that it’s not even worth testing.

[rosalind]

Yes, milk the cow from the start. Don't wait a couple days, that's not good advice for dairy cows.

For fatty liver, often Dextrose IV is necessary, so I'd recommend keeping some on hand.

Keep her grain amount low, increase gradually til she's at her full amount about a week after calving. A 20% is high, can you find a 14% or so? She'll need more energy rather than protein.

[Kelsey]

I would get ReaShure (rumen-protected choline) right away - she should have that starting 3 weeks before due date, through to 30-60 days fresh depending on need. Choline is the only clinically proven effective preventative for fatty liver ketosis.

I recommend starting her on grain 2 weeks before due date (good timing with the X-Zelit). Slowly ramp up to near production level amounts by the time she calves.
Yes, try to find a 13-14% grain, or cut yours with rolled barley to drop the protein.
I can't give an exact target amount of grain since you don't know her expected milk production (5? 12? They can vary wildly depending on genetics) but I think 8-10# is a good goal.

Offer her warm molasses water after calving (in addition to regular water of course).
I also recommend administering niacin-yeast capsules after calving.

Definitely have injectable Dextrose, CMPK, an IV kit, a jug of glycerin, and injectable vitamin B on hand.

Do not give her any oral calcium supplements unless you fail to feed a full 8+ days of X-Zelit.

Definitely start milking twice daily the day she calves.

[nextyear]

Mar 15, 2021 10:38:02 GMT -5 Kelsey said:

I would get ReaShure (rumen-protected choline) right away - she should have that starting 3 weeks before due date, through to 30-60 days fresh depending on need. Choline is the only clinically proven effective preventative for fatty liver ketosis.

I recommend starting her on grain 2 weeks before due date (good timing with the X-Zelit). Slowly ramp up to near production level amounts by the time she calves.
Yes, try to find a 13-14% grain, or cut yours with rolled barley to drop the protein.
I can't give an exact target amount of grain since you don't know her expected milk production (5? 12? They can vary wildly depending on genetics) but I think 8-10# is a good goal.

Offer her warm molasses water after calving (in addition to regular water of course).
I also recommend administering niacin-yeast capsules after calving.

Definitely have injectable Dextrose, CMPK, an IV kit, a jug of glycerin, and injectable vitamin B on hand.

Do not give her any oral calcium supplements unless you fail to feed a full 8+ days of X-Zelit.

Definitely start milking twice daily the day she calves.

Thanks!! Can you get reashure online? I know trying to get xzelit locally had every place in the area confused and rolling their eyes at the “internet farmer” 🤦🏼‍♀️ also how much would I be looking at needing to get me through after she freshens?
I’m going to see what I can find for grain options. Our grain mills are closing right and left around here so it’s slim pickings. How common is fatty liver ketosis on over weight cows? Am I looking at like 1/10 odds or more like 1/1000?

[Kelsey]

Mar 15, 2021 12:55:19 GMT -5 nextyear said:

Thanks!! Can you get reashure online? I know trying to get xzelit locally had every place in the area confused and rolling their eyes at the “internet farmer” 🤦🏼‍♀️ also how much would I be looking at needing to get me through after she freshens?
I’m going to see what I can find for grain options. Our grain mills are closing right and left around here so it’s slim pickings. How common is fatty liver ketosis on over weight cows? Am I looking at like 1/10 odds or more like 1/1000?

I would start by calling Balchem (the manufacturer). The guy in charge of the animal supplement division/ReaShure was super helpful and helped me track down local sources. Otherwise Leedstone has it.
Unfortunately you only need something like 60 grams per day so one bag is way too much. I know others here use it so you could try to split your bag with someone else.

If a cow turned up open and was going to be dry longer than several months, she would be culled on a commercial dairy, so no data on fatty liver incidence in that regard.

But I would guess that if a cow is overweight and has been dry for more than 4 months AND is a high producer, her chance of suffering some degree of fatty liver is nearly 100%, as that's the normal metabolic process that occurs when a cow is pumping out more energy (milk) than she is taking in when newly fresh.
Your goal is to minimize the energy discrepancy (by feeding an optimal diet), support her liver so it can be as efficient as possible (choline supplement), and minimize other factors that would suppress feed intake (X-Zelit to prevent milk fever, low stress environment, etc).

I would also make sure she's on a good Vit E supplement (3000 IU) and has adequate selenium, as both of these dramatically boost the immune system around calving time (studies show immunity is usually suppressed for some reason in the week before calving in cows that go on to have more metabolic issues).

If she's a low to moderate producer, or more importantly, slow to ramp up production, then there's a good chance she'll be just fine. But I've worked with far too many cases of fatty liver (here and at other dairies) to take it lightly so I definitely recommend intense preventative measures to be on the safe side.

[nextyear]

Mar 15, 2021 13:32:24 GMT -5 Kelsey said:

Mar 15, 2021 12:55:19 GMT -5 nextyear said:

Thanks!! Can you get reashure online? I know trying to get xzelit locally had every place in the area confused and rolling their eyes at the “internet farmer” 🤦🏼‍♀️ also how much would I be looking at needing to get me through after she freshens?
I’m going to see what I can find for grain options. Our grain mills are closing right and left around here so it’s slim pickings. How common is fatty liver ketosis on over weight cows? Am I looking at like 1/10 odds or more like 1/1000?

I would start by calling Balchem (the manufacturer). The guy in charge of the animal supplement division/ReaShure was super helpful and helped me track down local sources. Otherwise Leedstone has it.
Unfortunately you only need something like 60 grams per day so one bag is way too much. I know others here use it so you could try to split your bag with someone else.

If a cow turned up open and was going to be dry longer than several months, she would be culled on a commercial dairy, so no data on fatty liver incidence in that regard.

But I would guess that if a cow is overweight and has been dry for more than 4 months AND is a high producer, her chance of suffering some degree of fatty liver is nearly 100%, as that's the normal metabolic process that occurs when a cow is pumping out more energy (milk) than she is taking in when newly fresh.
Your goal is to minimize the energy discrepancy (by feeding an optimal diet), support her liver so it can be as efficient as possible (choline supplement), and minimize other factors that would suppress feed intake (X-Zelit to prevent milk fever, low stress environment, etc).

I would also make sure she's on a good Vit E supplement (3000 IU) and has adequate selenium, as both of these dramatically boost the immune system around calving time (studies show immunity is usually suppressed for some reason in the week before calving in cows that go on to have more metabolic issues).

If she's a low to moderate producer, or more importantly, slow to ramp up production, then there's a good chance she'll be just fine. But I've worked with far too many cases of fatty liver (here and at other dairies) to take it lightly so I definitely recommend intense preventative measures to be on the safe side.

So helpful! Thank you!! What brand do you recommend for vitamin E? We usually give our beef calves mu-se injections within a few days of when they’re born. I’d rather give her something I could top dress her grain with if that’s an option. She’s been on Redmond conditioner and has a mineral/selenium lick for what it’s worth.

[Kelsey]

I bought vitamin E and selenium powders from Santa Cruz Animal Health.
I don't know how much selenium you should feed as it will vary depending on the soil levels in your region (and where your hay comes from) and how much she is currently eating in supplements.
We've had a few selenium supplement discussions on here in the past though - try searching for those.
You have to be very careful with selenium it is so easy to overdose them and have toxic levels in the milk. There are government limits for feeding dairy cows. It is the one nutrient that has an extremely narrow range between too little and too much.

[Kelsey]

She should have a loose mineral mix - cows can't lick enough from a block.

[rosalind]

You should assume fatty liver.

It's not guaranteed, but definitely more likely than not.

And fatty liver doesn't go away in a day. Sometimes it never goes away, but at minimum it's a fight the first few weeks to keep the cow in balance.

[nextyear]

Thank you both so much! I’m going to get the reashure and vitamin e and selenium. I’ve got requests in to two feed stores in hopes of finding a lower protein feed and I’ll be ordering ketone strips and iv to have on hand. I’d rather be safe then sorry. The first time we bred pigs we assumed nature would take care of things and it would all be ok. We spent 12 hours pulling 11 piglets out of a gilt that nearly died and was never able to nurse her piglets....then Within days we lost 5 of the piglets and found we had missed one inside of her that was born days later decomposing. We were giving the pig monster doses of pen-g for 2 weeks (and let’s just say pigs don’t like shots and getting a needle through their skin and fat layer is no walk in the park 🙈). I never want to relive that kind of inexperience on our part. I’d rather cross my ts and dot my is and not need a lick of it than the other way around!

[nextyear]

I’m writing up my feeding plan to put in the barn. Did I get this all right? I’ve tried to track down most of what was recommended. I won’t have the reashure quite as early as recommended but I hope that 2 ish weeks before will be ok? On the X-Zelit, if she goes a week overdue, do you just keep feeding it until she calves? Thanks again for all the help!!

[Kelsey]

Looks good, though I'm curious about the Redmond Conditioner.
When she's fresh you'll want a 12-12 dairy mineral.

Once you start feeding the X-Zelit you must continue feeding it until she calves.

[nextyear]

Thank you [mention]kelsey [/mention] !! I’ll look for the 12-12 minerals. The place we used to get grain from said that her previous feed (called Delaware 16) was complete as far as all minerals were concerned. The nutritionist there wouldn’t recommend anything else and I didn’t know enough to know what else to offer her. We gave her the Redmond conditioner because it was easy to find. She regained condition so well that we just kept giving it. Of course then our grain changed to another mill and I don’t think it’s nearly as complete (and I’m going to change it again now to the low protein feed). Do you recommend leaving the minerals out free choice or putting it right in her grain?

[Kelsey]

If you were feeding 15-20# pounds of the dairy feed it would likely supply the minerals she needs, but you aren't going to be doing that (check the label - they usually specify a large amount to feed).
So you'll want to feed a quality mineral mix separately (I prefer free choice).

The conditioner won't hurt/might help but it does not appear to be a complete mineral mix as a lactating cow/12-12 mineral will be. It is primarily used for toxin binding (aflatoxin and endophyte) from what I read.

If you're in a dairy region, call around and I'm sure you'll find something. Otherwise, Ferrell and New Country Organics are two that ship.

[nextyear]

Thank you! Unfortunately it’s no longer dairy country around here. Our county only has 2 dairy farms left and they’ve got them nearly shut down at this point 😞 they’re only milking about 40 cows now and I would guess they’ll sell off in the next couple years. So sad.