HELPFUL HINTS ON AFTER-CALVING CARE OF DAIRY COWS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 70, 19 July 1948, Page 3

HELPFUL HINTS ON AFTER-CALVING CARE OF DAIRY COWS

The next few months will be the period of hard work for the dairyfarmer with the coming in of the majority of his herd and all the worries that go with their calving. The modern dairy cow is not just a milk-producing unit that can be treated on a general basis, with the herd, she is an milk producer with her own characteristics, both mental and physical. She also has her own tendency towards winter and spring illnesses, which can be noted and rectified at the appropriate times. The failure to note these tendencies causes a lot of the winter and spring wastage on the New Zealand dairy farms. Principal causes of loss in the dairy herds are grass staggers, milk fever, after calving paralysis, mastitis, temporary sterility and bloat. Study of causes and suitable firstaid treatment can save a lot of trouble. To prevent most of these ailments the following measures can be taken: Make sure that the cow is in good condition when due to calve and has access to suitable mature- grass and hay or silage. Do not force milk production topeak, but allow the cow to come up to it gradually on good but mature feed. (Molasses supplement to hay is good). The individual cow may be subject to milk fever or bloat she should be treated carefully, and a bone

'meal lick to replace calcium is a good thing. Another precaution' can be only partially to milk out the uder afaer the cow has calved, always leaving a little, so that the removal of calcium is not too great a strain on the cow’s system. It will adjust this for itself in a few days. Causes and treatment of the various calving ailments are many and varied, but these following can be takeh as average and effective. Milk fever is noticed by the loss of power in the legs of the beast. She becomes wobbly, collapses and then dies if not treated immediately. This fever is caused by the too sudden withdrawal of too much of the animal’s calcium supply and an immediate treatment is the inflation of the udder to prevent the further production of milk, which is removing the calcium from the blood. The next treatment is from a vet or by the injection into the blood stream of Calcium borogluconate. Grass staggers are a very sudden cause of death to the cow preceded by excitement and convulsions. A good remedy for this is the injection of a solution of 2ozs of Epsom salts in lOozs of water at blood heat into the system. These measures could be used immediately a cow showed signs of undue excitement. Both these conditions may occur weeks or months after the calving if a fall of warm fain comes after a slight drought. Further after-calving ailments and their treatments will *be discussed next week.