Milk fever prevention update and vitamin D3 toxicity

Abstract

Discussing problems of milk fever with practicing veterinarians today reveals that in some herds there are occasionally epidemics that occur for a variable period of time in some herds. The overall incidence in the U.S. is apparently down from the 8-9% of the 1960’s to about 6-7%. However, sales of milk fever treatments may be rather stable. This may also mean that the average milk fever cow may get 2 bottles per treatment.

Today, in the large herds, where caloric and calcium intake are very closely regulated to minimize overfeeding of energy and calcium, the herd incidence of milk fever may be below 1%. The major question for the medium size farm is whether or not it is worthwhile to prevent milk fever if the management upset is too great. This is a real problem for dairymen on all legume forages.