Staggers and mag licks

[jane]

Are Dexter's prone to staggers? In what situation would you advise providing magnesium licks, or don't you find they're really necessary. Our vet suggested we should provide licks in the autumn when we took delivery of our cattle a year ago because of the risks with the autumn flush of grass, but this year it's been lush right through. Do you always provide them as a precaution, or at least some form of supplment. Thanks.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

Staggers is quite a complex problem and not just a simple magnesium deficiency. Energy intake is also important, and stress levels as well. Sudden spells of cold and wet can be disastrous. So at this time of year as grass declines in energy content it can be important to make sure that cattle can get the most out of it. This can be done by providing extra fibre such as straw for them to eat at pasture, slowing the passage of material through the system and allowing them to absorb more of the available magnesium etc. If conditions are a stage worse it may be advisable to provide either licks or a high magnesium cake which provides both energy and magnesium. Magnesium bullets which lodged in the reticulum were used at one time and still have their place in acute situations but generally only provide cover for about 2-3 weeks so are not as useful as they might be.

The Burnside herd has never had any form of magnesium or other mineral suppliment till this year, because they are always inwintered and up to last year have always had a good proportion of their requirements from cake. But last winter I cut out the cake and fed only hay. This meant that they came through the winter quite healthy but a lot leaner than I have usually had them, so when they went out in spring I put out a tub of hi magnesium lick in each field. There have been about 6 cattle of mixed ages in each of two fields, and two at home have had none, but not always the same two. So far they have used about 2/3 of a tub per field - total cost for the herd of up to 14 animals being about £14. Cheap at the price for some peace of mind - the only way to be certain they were at risk would be to have not used the tubs and either had a case of staggers or not.

Duncan

[Liz]

Duncan,
Can you assume that they will take the licks if they are short of magnesium? I have a magnesium lick out but they don't seem to touch it - I heard that magnesium is very bitter and that they don't like it. Of course, it may be that they don't need it, although the conditions you describe as being most risky currently apply; lush grass, turned chilly and huge amounts of rain.... at least, here in Devon. Also, are all cattle equally at risk, or cows in milk more?
Thanks,
Liz

[Duncan MacIntyre]

It is always difficult to be sure that all those in a group take licks etc, and if things are very risky it may be best to provide straw or even extra cake. Cake can be got with extra magnesium added but with high levels of magnesium it is definitely less palatable.Milking cows are more at risk, but any class of stock can be affected and I have heard of Dexter bulls being victims of staggers. But don't give up and not provide the chance for thaose which will take licks just because some may not. It is dangerous for me to get too specific on advice like this when you really need local input, either form your own vet or from experienced local stockmen (or women)

Duncan

[RegK]

Hi, for what it's worth my huge herd of 1 cow (in calf) and 1 heifer calf have a multi mineral salt lick in the paddock with them and I've seen the use it regularly. I was reassured by my vet on a recent visit that it was a good thing to do for them even though the grass is growing slowly at the moment. What baffles me, though, is that both the cow and the calf not only use the lick but I have seen them biting at it and chomping on small lumps of it. I can only assume that they know what they need and go for it.
On a similar line, I have put up some stock fencing using tanalised timber. The cattle also lick at that. I think tanalising uses some copper salts during processing and this is what is attracting the cow and calf. Does anyone know if this is likely to be harmful?

Reg.

[ann]

Hi I have molasses x magnesuim buckets out for the first time this year as I normally give dry feed with magnesuim mixed in when ever there is a slight risk of a wet or cold spell, however this year we have had so much grass and everything is so fat that it seem crazy to give them anymore. the intresting thing is that they never touched the buckets until we got this cold wet spell, now they are going down rapidly by the day, in most cases I find the cows them selves know when they need the minerals, howeve if a cow has just calved, sometimes no matter how many minerals you have out, you still need to watch for milk fever or grass staggers, and if you get it, you need a vet A.S.P or a friendly dairy farmer

signs to look out for before a cow actually goes down is your cow looking rather wide eyed, and also the skin starts to twitch. Once a cow has gone down then its really urgent.

Ann

[chriskirise]

We lost an 8 year old cow last winter with, I think, Milk Staggers. Our cows winter out and have silage twice a day and Barley straw in their racks. The cow showed no signs of being out of sorts on the night, but next morning we found her dead. The vet said she had been eating straw right up until her death, which he said would have been very quick. We did have a general purpose mineral bucket in the field. The post-mortem showed that she was low on Magnesium & Calcium and the fact that she had been 'bulling' 4 days earlier apparently did not help.
I now have Mag bucket in the field all the time. Am I doing right or not.

[Jo Kemp]

Hi mag or not to hi mag that is the question.
I was told that if hi mag is ALWAYS available the cow's body gets lazy and doesn't seem to use magnesium adequately also when I have left males with the cows it appears that the kidneys are affected (shown by 2 steers at the abattoir, the kidneys of both were comdemned )
Not very scientific but I give hi mag shortly before and after calving but when they are running with the bull they are on a 'cattle booster' molassed lick which should be OK for the bull. I also try to make sure they have straw as this slows down the gut, thus allowing more magnesium in the diet to be absorbed.
That is the theory but it's always a worry I think - that reminds me 'Goldie' is due in 4 weeks and there are no fellas with her!