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(HYPOCALCEMIA) Milk fever is a condition of older dairy cows (3+ parity). At calving time, the cow’s requirement for blood calcium increases greatly and suddenly as the udder fills with colostrum. Calcium is important for muscle function. When blood calcium levels are low, the leg muscles become weak and the cow is unable to rise or stand. Cows with milk fever are at greater risk of injury and of mastitis. The incidence of clinical milk fever is 5-9%, however, more importantly the incidence of subclinical milk fever is 3-5 times higher than the clinical incidence. The cost of clinical milk fever exceeds $500 per case. Consequently, prevention of clinical and subclinical milk fever is very important. Prevention is better than cure! TREATMENT OF MILK FEVER Treatment for all milk fever cases should be regarded as urgent. The standard treatment is to give calcium intravenously, slowly. This infusion often gets affected animals back on their feet quickly. Oral supplement of calcium as follow-up treatment is very important. If skipped, more than 1/3 of the cases relapse, and further infusion of calcium is needed. Oral supplement of calcium as supportive treatment given twice with 8-12 hours interval after calcium infusion will reduce the relapse rate from 30-40% to less than 5%. The calcium salt used is important also. Calcium chloride is readily absorbed, however, very caustic to the oral and gastric mucosa. Calcium propionate is absorbed more slowly, however, this calcium salt provides energy as well, and does not have any burning effect. CORRECT DUAL CALCIUM supportive treatment program 1 tube of CORRECT DUAL CALCIUM 3-5 hours after infusion of calcium followed by 1 tube 8-12 hours later. CORRECT DUAL CALCIUM prevention program 1 tube of CORRECT DUAL CALCIUM at first sign of calving (approximately 2-6 hours prior to calving) and 1 tube of CORRECT DUAL CALCIUM 6-10 hours after calving Prevention of Milk Fever by Oral Dosing with Calcium around Calving - "The Scandinavian Way" (PDF file) Back to CORRECT Products |
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