Calcium Deficiency - Has anyone used Bovikalc?

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 3:36 pm

Our 12 year old cow Ginger Spice is tootling toward calving at snails pace and so huge that when we did the TB test she didn't fit in the crush - she has had twins before as well!!!

We are concerned however that she may get Milk Fever, possibly even before calving as she is a cow of mature years :D ! So apart from keeping her under surveillance and having the usual Calcium Borogluconate and flutter valve to hand we wondered what else we could do.

A friend of ours who keeps dairy cows tells us that Bovikalc has been around for a few years now and is a bolus administered about 24 hours before calving. He is thankfully offering to do the administering! In theory he says it should prevent most Milk fever or if the cow would have been "flat out" it should mean a mild case.

Has anyone here used it?

I have read the instructions on the box which are very straight forward, it makes it clear that it cannot be used if your cow is already showing signs of Milk Fever.

The biggest problem will be knowing when she is within 24 hours of calving I expect.

Stephanie

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 5:02 pm

She is looking well - this was taken 4 weeks ago. She has actually lost a little weight off her back and hips since then - not too much but is wider in the base of her belly, which is why she wouldn't fit in the crush.

Stephanie

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 6:06 pm

This isn't on the subject really, but Ginger Spice is very similar to one or two of my duns (a lot of woodmagic in them) and one of them was enormous even quite a long time before calving. I was expecting twins to appear, but she just had a normal-sized single a few weeks ago. She wasn't fat either.

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:00 pm

Stephanie, it could be just one calf lying sideways. She doesn't look big enough to be carrying twins. We had a 12 year old cow carry twins on our farm a number of years ago. I made sure she had the flatest paddock to live in for the last couple of months and gave her good grass and a slice of hay each day. She stayed healthy and the calves were nice and healthy when they were born as well. (Apart from the fact that the heifer calf promptly got her head stuck in the fence and we had to come to her aid to extract her, so she could have her first feed.) :laugh:

She did develop mastitis and a uterine infection after a few days though, so do watch out for that, if you end up getting twins again. Appariantly there is an increased chance of uterine infection, if a cow has twins.

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:15 am

Duncan - Do you and your clients find Bovikalc useful? This is what our friends are saying the local vets are advising Dairy Farmers to use for the last 3 or 4 years. I am not sure how useful it would be as gauging when a cow is within 24 hours of calving is a bit of a tightrope!

Stephanie

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:18 pm

We are vets for over 3000 dairy cows, and I am not aware of any of our clients using it. That does not mean they don't, because they can be very secretive about what they use and don't buy from us. I agree spotting 24 hours gap between administration and calving can be very difficult. Quite a few of our clients give a bottle of Ca borogluconate when they see them calving if they are older, I am not sure whether that is wise or not. It might be worth enquiring of the makers of the bolus if it can be given again if they do not calve as expected.
For most modern commercial dairy cows the diet throughout the dry period is very much more critical than it used to be for Ayrshires and Friesians. At least the Dexter still can cope with more flexible feeding.

Duncan