Posted by Administrator on December 22 2011 16:23

Got Milk Fever?

The downer cow--we've all had experiences with them, and everybody has their own remedies. Of course, there are many different causes including low calcium, magnesium, or phosphorus, trauma, septic shock, toxic mastitis, abscesses, or tumors . While each case has its own therapy, this month's edition of the Dairy Newsletter covers our treatment suggestions for the most common reason for the down cow: Hypocalcemia, better known as “Milk Fever.”

Suggested treatments for down cows with suspect milk fever:

Subclinical (Standing, mild excitement, muscle tremors, wobbly, fast heart rate) Oral Fresh Start (2# in 5 gallons of warm water) or Oral Calcium Boluses
or Subcutaneous 23% Calcium Gluconate, split one 500 mL bottle between 2 sites

Clinical (Laying down, dull/depressed with fast heart rate, abnormally cold ears, S-curve to neck)
Intravenous CMPK (500 mL)
Give one of the subclinical treatments listed above to prevent relapse   Optional: Draw and submit blood sample (Purple top tube) to determine cause of abnormality

 Non-responsive Clinical (Treatments ineffective, cow still down >2 hours later)
 Make sure nothing else is wrong, cow has adequate bedding and room to lunge forward
 Draw blood and submit for testing
 Administer IV CMPK (500 mL) (Do not use more than 2 bottles in the same day)
 Consider also administering phosphorus IM or IV (Talk to your veterinarian for details)
 

Severe Clinical (Laying on side, almost comatose, heart rate >120 beats/min)
 Call your veterinarian, cow is at a high risk at this point

 Key points to remember:

• Make sure to administer IV calcium over at least 10 minutes
•  A second IV bottle will most likely cause a relapse, consider alternative routes of calcium (such as oral or subcutaneous) in addition to 500 mL IV
• Do NOT give CMPK or other products containing Dextrose subcutaneously
• If Milk Fever is a common problem on your farm, consider incorporating an acidifying diet into your close-up dry cow ration—talk to your veterinarian and nutritionist to set up a plan
   

Vet's Choice

We recommend SciMic probiotic boluses and powder for any calves or cows with digestive upsets. These products can be used a preventative if there is predictable pattern of intestinal disease or as a treatment. The live bacteria in the product help to replenish the beneficial bacteria in the intestine. We also recommend that probiotics are used in cattle that have been treated with antibiotics for 3 or more days.

Product Update

Inforce 3, Pfizer Animal Health’s intranasal viral respiratory vaccine, has now been proven to elicit an immune response even when high maternal antibodies are present. Calves receive antibodies from their dam via colostrum and while these antibodies protect the calf from disease, they can also counteract some vaccines. These antibodies do not interfere with Inforce 3 vaccine. This means that any calf, including newborns, can safely receive the vaccine and they should get good protection from the vaccination.