The Opportunities with Pre fresh Dairy Cattle
All of today’s modern cattle came from the ancient Auroch or wild ox. It was seven feet at the shoulder, and weighed 3,000lb. Think of a modern buffalo that is 150% the size. The animal had a personality to match. They were tough on herd mates that were injured or infirm. Over time, the Auroch developed a cortisol surge that went from the brief flight or fight type to one that lasted for about 21 days. At the same time, their immune system switched to using their blood sugar instead of ketones from fat metabolism.
Fast forward to today’s modern dairy cow. The pre fresh cow under goes this same stress response in the last weeks before calving. For decades, our industry has focused on giving this animal more substrate to produce blood sugar. Ketosis is a reality in the modern dairy animal. Couple this with the typical drop in dry matter intakes in the pre fresh group and we have quite a metabolic challenge.
Recently, a joint study by Iowa State and Penn state showed that this immune system switch uses for to six pounds of blood sugar per day. That is the metabolic equivalent of 40 to 60 lbs. of milk.
QFA is a 0.1 lb. feed additive that has over 500,000 pre fresh cow feedings in commercial herds. It has shown to eliminate ketosis at the time of freshening and out to the usual 14 to 28 day flare ups if also fed in the first group fresh. It has shown to maintain pre fresh intakes at the level of the far off ration on these facilities. We have always thought that the drop was a fact of life, turns out it is not.
Cows clean except for twins. First service conception in heifers bred to sexed semen are typically in the upper 60’s. The extra blood sugar helps reproduction. We also have seen improvement in flush programs and IVF results.
This is all a result of stopping the cortisol surge and resetting the immune system to using products of lipid metabolism and sparing the blood sugar for what it is needed for during this stressful period.
QFA in Pre Fresh Dairy Cattle
- QFA helps control the cortisol surge in pre fresh dairy cattle and manages the inappropriate use of blood sugar by the immune system.
- QFA should be fed at 0.1 lb per head per day during the entire pre fresh period and in the first group fresh where possible.
- The dry matter intake of pre fresh cattle fed QFA will be similar to the far off dry cow group instead of the typical 2 – 3 lb less intake.
- Ketosis will be almost eliminated in freshening cattle.
- Uterine health including RP’s and uterine involution will improve.
- First service conception rates will improve, especially in 1st lactation animals bred to sexed semen.
