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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).
Challenging investment in orally administered supplementary trace minerals
Teagasc estimates that milk somatic cell count (SCC) levels above 100,000 mean you are losing money. On average mastitis costs farmers €60/cow/year (O’Brien et al., 2016).
Cows are especially vulnerable to health disorders like this during the transition period and approximately 75% of disease incidence (mastitis, metritis, ketosis, abomasal displacement, etc.) occurs in the first month of lactation (LeBlanc et al., 2006), in particular the first 10 days after calving (Ingvartsen et al., 2003), coinciding with the most rapid increase in milk yield.
Better udder health
Trace minerals like copper (Cu) and selenium (Se) play an important role in udder health. In particular, reduced zinc (Zn) levels have been linked to increased SCC (Davidov et al., 2013).
December 13, 2020 12:00 pm
The transition period in cows is a critical time for herds in Ireland aiming to avoid clinical disease in early lactation.
Milk somatic cell count (SCC) levels above 100,000 mean you are losing money. On average mastitis costs farmers €60/cow/year (O’Brien et al., 2016). The major loss for high cell count is milk yield and milk quality penalties.
Subclinical mineral deficiency can adversely affect immunity in Irish herds leading to increased levels of transition diseases like mastitis. Addressing this issue could improve herd health nationally.
Years of research has documented how trace minerals are vital for disease prevention in cattle. Animals that are in poor mineral status may have poorer immunity.