January 11, 2021 12:11 pm
Take the hardship out of administering oral trace mineral supplements to your cows by talking to your veterinary surgeon about injectable trace mineral top up during the transition period.
Pre-calving cows can benefit from supplementary trace minerals but oral trace mineral supplements like drenches and boluses can be difficult and time consuming to administer. Trace minerals are a vital component of bovine immunity and trace mineral imbalances have been linked with poor disease resistance in Irish dairy herds.
Selenium (Se) is vital for immune cell killing ability (Ndiweni and Finch, 1995); copper (Cu) is known to affect specific immune functions (Spears and Weiss, 2008); and zinc (Zn) deficiencies have been linked to immunity impairment and lower disease resistance (Shankar and Prasad, 1998).