Prevent milk fever, ketosis in cows

NAIROBI: A significant number of farmers has incurred huge losses from treatments, loss of milk and even death of high yielding cows from milk fever and Ketosis. This has created fear of keeping high producing cows. This disease is our focus today:

Milk Fever (Hypocalcaemia): Milk Fever (Hypocalcaemia) refers to life threateningly low levels of calcium in the cow’s blood. It can occur 24 hours before calving but mostly within 48 to 72 hours after calving, mostly in high yielding cows. Older cows are more susceptible because they produce more milk. This is because milk contains a lot of calcium (about 1.220 g per kg). If the cow produces 20 kg of milk in one day it will suddenly require to put about 24gm of calcium into all of this milk. If the calcium from the diet and that being mobilised from the bones is not enough for transfer to the milk this will result in a severe drop of calcium in the blood leading to hypocalcaemia. Milk fever is also associated with cows that are too fat at calving.

Milk fever or low calcium in the blood (hypocalcaemia) manifests as tremors and unsteadiness. Eventually the cow sits down with a kink in the neck and is unable to rise. It will become constipated and die if not treated.

You can avoid this easily by ensuring a low calcium diet of less than 15 gm per day for the last 10 days before calving when the cow is dry to stimulate the body system to mobilise calcium from the bone stores; this is to ensure that the cow will continue to mobilise the same when it starts producing large amounts of milk during the first few days after calving. After calving, the cow should receive enough calcium in the diet as recommended for the animal depending on its size and the amount it is producing. There is another mineral namely phosphorous associated with how calcium is absorbed and used so expert advice is needed to get the right quantity to put in the diet.

In case the cow comes down with milk fever, a vet is needed quickly to inject the calcium into the blood or under the skin as the professional may determine. Many animals will recover on injection but some may require another injection before full recovery. A few may still die even after treatment due to other complications such as aspiration pneumonia so it is better to prevent the milk fever. Some non responsive cases may be complicated by low magnesium.

Vitamin D injections two to eight days before calving in animals will support the calcium processes in the body and may be of some help. This is recommended for cows known to be at high risk. Ask your nearest expert to advice on the ration to give the cow before calving and after calving. Minimise feeds with high calcium such as legumes (for example Lucerne) in the few weeks before calving.

Ketosis: Ketosis or hypoglycemia refers to low sugar levels in the cow’s blood. This forces the body to break down the fats that are stored in the body to produce glucose. If severe, Ketosis manifests as a sudden loss of appetite especially of concentrate feeds. Other symptoms are decreased milk production, the dung is hard, the skin is dry, there is rapid loss of body weight over several days or slowly over weeks while urine, milk, skin and breath produce a sickly sweet smell. If the disease is mild, the only sign may be lowered milk yields and. The disease resolves itself as milk yield decreases.

Ketosis usually occurs at six to eight weeks after calving in high producers of any age that were too fat at calving. This is because generally cows have a low appetite for food after calving and food intake is at its minimum. A fat cow at calving has an even lower appetite and therefore eats much less. Thus the amount of glucose being absorbed from the digestive tract is less than the glucose required to make the large amounts of milk the cow is manufacturing at about the time of calving and in the early lactation. Therefore, the cow has to manufacture the extra glucose needed from the fat stored in its body.

It is recommended that to avoid Ketosis, you bring your cow(s) to a body condition score of about 3.5 at calving, this is not too fat and it is not too thin. Condition scores are graded 1 ( too thin) – 5 (too fat). So you will need to monitor the fattening of the animal during the two months dry period and if necessary adjust the feed rations as required. Therefore you need to acquire the skill of assessing body condition or seek an expert from your nearest veterinary/ livestock production provider to assist.

It is recommended that about three weeks before and after the cow calves down you ensure that the cow has a good appetite by giving a balanced, high energy, highly digestible feed ration (the specifics of quantities and ingredients can be recommended by your expert) that it will enjoy without making the cow fat.

Also increase the cows happiness by preventing any health problems and physical discomfort. This means that you must ensure that you have adequate quantities of the recommended feeds available every day. One way you can achieve this is by stocking preserved fodder and a daily meal that you are sure of its quality. This will avoid introduction of abrupt changes of feeds that may interfere with the cow’s appetite. Also avoid finely cut fodder.

Once the cow is diagnosed as having Ketosis, a vet will give recommended drug injections to correct the blood sugar and milk production, appetite will also be restored within a few days. Then the farmer will have to maintain the recommended ration described above.

Note that milk fever and ketosis can occur at the same time.

The writer works at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock in the field of animal health and production.