Calcium and magnesium crucial Supplementing your cows diet with Healthy Cow throughout milking ensures increased milk production and bolsters immune functionality. A B Lime along with its sister company Victory Lime (Palmers Resources) produce Healthy Cow, a range of calcium-based products which were developed with the input of an animal nutritionist. Sales and marketing manager Liz Ferns says the development of Healthy Cow was the brainchild of general manager Steve Smith about 12 years ago, leading to the installation of a specific mill to produce fine lime. “A couple years later, Victory Lime in Mount Somers, Canterbury came on board so we are able to supply South Island wide,” Liz says. These products include Healthy Cow Calcium Supplement, Healthy Cow Calcium + Magnesium 80/20 and Healthy Cow Silage supplement as well as custom blends to support herd health by targeting calcium and magnesium disorders, while improving performance and profitability. These are carefully balanced to provide cows with the extra mineral supplementation they need at critical times in a convenient, easy-to-use form. Supplementing dairy herd feed with magnesium and calcium, especially during spring and early summer, will increase milk production and reduce the risk of calcium deficiency in a herd. These deficiencies result in milk fever, or hypocalcaemia which is associated with a cascade effect for several serious metabolic disorders and infectious diseases. While virtually every dairy farmer knows calcium is an essential element, there is still a knowledge gap relating to how much should be used and for how long, Liz says. With the onset of lactation, a cow’s calcium requirement increases by 400%. To meet this demand a cow will obtain calcium from their bones and diet, but if insufficient will draw it from their muscles and nerves, leading to muscle weakness or ‘downer' cows’. “A lot of farmers stop using lime flour about Labour Weekend or the end of October. They really shouldn’t be changing anything in the diet leading into mating, and we all want our cows to produce to their best ability so why limit this?” “We are encouraging farmers to supplement with calcium all season. A cow will not produce low calcium milk, she will just produce less.” Calcium is commonly provided through in-shed feed systems, but also can be dusted on pasture as well. The consistent use of Heathy Cow's products on AB Lime's own dairy farm, which milks about 950 cows, has shown proven results. Three years ago in December outside of peak milking time, two mineral dispensers in the farm's dairy shed became blocked. “Within 24 hours we lost between 4-5% milk production.” “Farmers with high producing cows won't leave calcium out of their system, they know that the calcium is what can give them really good milk production.” While cows need calcium throughout the lactation season, seasonally there are times when this should be boosted to 250 to 300 grams per cow per day, especially after calving. From late October into November this amount can be reduced, but calcium should never be totally eliminated, Liz says. There is also a risk of a calcium deficiency after an autumn grass flush. “We see a lot of cows go down then with milk fever and that's purely because the grass is flushing and it's really lush, which bolsters milk production, so also requires more calcium.” The Healthy Cow website provides a wealth of information about animal health and guidelines related to calcium.
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