DRY COW &TRANSITION COW MANAGEMENT – FASTART PROGRAMME
Through accurate and carefully balanced nutrition, you will ensure cows can transition successfully, produce a healthy, viable calf and enter milk production.
HOW DOES THE FASTART PROGRAMME WORK?
We have been balancing rations for Dietary Cation Anion Difference (DCAD) and have developed our own index based on DCAD plus other nutritional factors affecting nutrient uptake. This Pre-fresh Cow Index (PCI) takes feeding your transition cows to the next level.
FAR OFF DRY COWS
The starting point, and an often overlooked group of cows on the dairy. They tend to get moved to a pen and given rough forage, but the following goals should be in focus:
- Maintain body condition, protein and muscle reserves
- Repair mammary tissue and rejuvenate the rumen wall
- Provide required vitamins and minerals
- Calf growth and boosting the cow’s immune system
The FASTART programme achieves all of these by a blend of macro minerals, trace minerals and vitamins from our product range.
TRANSITION COWS
Transition cow nutrition can be broadly divided into pre-fresh cows and post-fresh cows. Pre-fresh being cows between 21 days pre-calving and the point of calving, and post-fresh being from the point of calving to 21 days in milk.
Dry cow diets may be bulked up with straw or less digestible, more mature silage or hay to achieve rumen fill. However, this can sometimes affect how quickly a cow becomes accustomed to a milking ration and then how quickly and what level of peak milk is achieved.
Transition cow diet should have the following goals:
- Minimise metabolic problems
- Healthy calves
- Rapidly achieve peak milk with a persistent curve
- Reduce weight loss
Dietary changes should promote rumen adaptation to increase absorption, reduce negative energy balance and prevent excessive body condition loss.
POST-FRESH DIETS
The first 60 days after calving is an important period for cow health and outcome of total lactation. Post-fresh grouping minimises stress and maximises dry matter intake.
Diet formulation for a post-fresh cow revolves around achieving the correct nutrient density and maximising feed intake. This minimises acidosis and ketosis, two metabolic disorders prevalent in post-fresh cows.
Over a 3-year period, clients in the UK achieved average reductions of:
- 75% in clinical milk fever
- 90% in ketosis
- 50% in retained placentas
- 90% in displaced abomasums
The FASTART programme achieves all of these by a blend of macro minerals, trace minerals and vitamins from our product range.
