Management of high yielding cows during transition period in nutrition, housing feeding space

1. Management of high
yielding cows during
transitional period
Vishnu Vardhan Reddy.P
TVM/2015-029
Department of Animal nutrition
College of Veterinary Science, Tirupati
Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University

2. Transition period

3. • The periparturient or transition period is defined as
the four weeks before and after calving, and is
characterised by greatly increased risk of disease
(Curtis et al. 1985; Shanks 1981; Stevenson and Lean
1998).
• This period is dominated by a series of adaptations
to the demands of lactation, a type process termed
‘homeorhetic’ (Bauman and Currie 1980).

4. Cow health problems (expressed as percentage of cases of
calving cows within 14 days of calving).
Health problem Target Seek help if
Milk fever 1% (old cows >8yrs: 2%) >3%
Clinical ketosis <1% >2%
Abomasal displacements
(left or right)
<1% >2%
Clinical mastitis
<5 cases / 100 cows / first
30 days
>5 cases / 100 cows /
first 30 days
Lameness (Sprecher
locomotion scale 1-5)
<2% with > Score 2 >4% with > Score 2
Hypomagnesaemia
(Grass Tetany)
0% 1 case
Retained placenta >24 hrs
after calving
<4% >6%
Vaginal discharge after 14 days <3% >10%
Calvings requiring assistance <2% >3%
Clinical acidosis 0% 1%

5. Transition cow biology
• Dry Matter Intake
• Physiological Changes
• Rumen Function

6. Dry Matter Intake
• Dry matter intake (DMI) decreases as calving approaches.
Dry matter intake can decrease from 2 % of body weight
(BW) in the first few weeks of the dry period to 1.4 % BW
in the 7 to 10 d period before calving.
• During the 3 wk after calving DMI will increase at the rate
of 1.5 to 2.5 kg /wk.
• This increase being more rapid in multiparous cows than
primiparous cows.

7. Physiological Changes
• It is estimated that the daily demands for fetal and
placental growth in the last 3 wk of gestation are 360 g
of metabolizable protein and 3 to 5 Mcal of net energy.
• The concentration of plasma insulin continually declines
in the transition period until calving and that of
somatotropin increases rapidly between the end of
gestation and the initiation of lactation.

8. • Concentration of plasma progesterone, which is high
in gestation, rapidly falls at calving and there is a
transitory elevation in estrogens and
glucocorticoids in the periparturient period.
• These hormonal changes not only contribute to the
decline in DMI, but also causes mobilization of body
fat reserves from adipocytes resulting an increase in
concentration of plasma non-esterified fatty acids
(NEFA),

9. Changes in hormone concentrations around calving

10. Rumen Function
• During the dry period, cows generally consume a diet
that is principally composed of forages and, by
consequence, is more fibrous than the type of diet
offered in lactation it leads to large population of
cellulolytic bacteria and a low population of
amylolytic bacteria.
• If the ration is changed abruptly at calving may
responsible for acute rumen acidosis,

11. • Further, it is a known phenomenon that as DMI
increases, rate of passage from the rumen increases
as well. After calving, when DMI is relatively low,
rate of passage is slow.
• If dietary NFC increases abruptly at calving, with
high levels of fermentable carbohydrates, leading to
elevated concentrations of VFA in the rumen and
causes sub acute rumen acidosis (SARA) and
contributes to reduced DMI and feed digestibility as
well as laminitis in the early postpartum period.

12. Management of high yielders in
transition period
1. Nutrition
2. Housing
3. Feed space
4. Group moves and social stress
5. Body Condition Scoring
6. Effective monitoring of fresh cows

13. Aims of transition nutrition
Condition Details
Reduce ruminal
disruption
Milking cows are very vulnerable to lactic acidosis and sub-acute
ruminal acidosis (SARA) resulting from suppressed appetite and
rapid introduction of grains/concentrates.
Minimise macro
mineral
deficiencies
Mainly refers to calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. Milk fever
and grass tetany (hypomagnesaemia) can result from a conditioned
deficiency where excess potassium reduces the capacity of the cow
to maintain stable blood concentrations of calcium and magnesium.
Minimise lipid
mobilisation
disorders
Includes ketosis, fatty liver and pregnancy toxemia; diseases that
are largely influence by a failure to provide sufficient or effective
energy sources around calving.
Avoid immune
suppression
Often associated with lack of energy or protein intake –
micronutrients are often involved, including copper, selenium, zinc,
iodine, vitamin E and vitamin D.

14. Components of transition diet:
• Energy and protein
• Macrominerals and DCAD
• Microminerals
• Rumen modifiers and
• Buffers and other possible additives.

15. Energy and protein
• The energetic demands of gestating cows reach 1.3
to 1.5 times the maintenance requirements by the
end of gestation (Quigley and Drewry, 1998).
• But during transition period cows are able to
consume less then they required resulting in the
negative energy balance and the concomitant loss of
body weight (Bell, 1995).
• NEB is greatest in the first week postpartum.

16. • Estimated energy balance after calving improves with
increasing the energy density of the precalving ration.
• Feeding high energy density feeds can cause increase
milk production, decrease milk fat percentage and
significant increase in protein percentage and yield
(Minor et al. 1998).
• But subsequent risk of sub-acute ruminal acidosis
(SARA) and lactic acidosis increases in response to the
feeding of high concentrate diets after calving.

17. • A cow at the end of gestation should receive a diet
with a minimum of 35 % NDF in the total DM and in
postpartum transition period 28 to 32 % NDF in the
total DM. Following the transition period 26 % .
• The addition of NFC to the diet is necessary in the
transition period but should be done gradually.
• The recommendations for NFC for prepartum
transition cows is 30 to 35 % of total dietary DM. For
postpartum transition cows NFC should be 38 to 40 %
of total dietary DM (Drackley, 1998).

18. • Protein should be evaluated on a metabolizable
protein (MP) basis. Prepartum transition cows need
about 1100-1200 g/d of MP, while first and second
lactation animals need 1200-1400 g/d.
• Availability of bacterial protein can influence milk
production and reproductive benefits observed by
Degaris et al. (2009).
• Production of ruminal bacteria is stimulated by the
presence of peptides in transition diet.

19. • In transition period primiparous cows require a
higher dietary protein concentration at 14 to 16 % of
total DM, than the multiparous cows at 12 % (NRC,
1989 specification)
• Methionine and lysine are often considered the first
rate limiting amino acids for dairy cows (NRC 2002).
• The strongly positive methionine and lysine balance
of the diets may also have had a sparing effect on
choline which may be a limiting nutrient for milk
production in high-yielding dairy cows.

20. • Feeding of fat supplements during the pre and post-
partum period has not traditionally been
recommended due to the potential to reduce dry
matter intakes, particularly in heifers.
• Protected fats, including calcium soaps and prills,
may provide energy and they have less effect on
feed intake and can provide specific fatty acids.
• Feeding 225 and 454 grams (1/2 to 1 lb) of fat per
cow/day is advantageous.

21. Macrominerals and Dietary
Cation Anion Difference(DCAD)
• In pre-partum calcium should be given lower than
typical i.e., less than 0.6 % more Ca in pre-partum
diet increases risk of milk fever.
• At parturition there is a sudden increase in the cow’s
calcium requirements for colostrum (2-3g Ca/L) and
milk (1.22-1.45g Ca/L) the onset of lactation
increases the cow’s daily calcium requirement by 2-4
fold.

22. • If this blood calcium is not replaced rapidly cows will
become hypocalcemic with some developing clinical
milk fever.
• Recommended level of magnesium concentration in
the diet is at least 0.45% before and after calving.
• Non-pregnant, non-lactating cows fed a diet high in
magnesium had lower renal calcium excretion than
those fed a diet low in magnesium.
• Magnesium is critical in the release of parathyroid
hormone and in the synthesis of 1,25(OH)2 D3.

23. • In cattle, pre-calving diet high in phosphorus have
negative impact on calcium homeostasis .
• Phosphorus concentrations should be controlled before
calving to <0.4%. And 0.4% after caving with increasing
phosphorus concentrations increasing milk fever risk.
• Diets high in sodium and potassium and low in chlorine
and sulphur tended to increase the incidence of milk
fever, while those high in chlorine and sulphur and low
in sodium and potassium or containing added anionic
salts (AS), decreased the occurrence of milk fever

24. • The most appropriate DCAD equation to predict the
effect of a diet is:
DCAD = (𝐍𝐚+ + 𝐤+) – (𝐂𝐥− + 𝐒 𝟐−)
and have to express in mEq/kg DM.
• Because they impact on milk fever independent of
DCAD, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus should
not be included in DCAD equations.
• Magnesium plays a protective role over milk fever,
independent of DCAD.

25. • Increasing phosphorus concentrations increases
milk fever risk, independent of DCAD.
• Other interesting observation is the milk production
efficiency value. While gross efficiency (kg milk/kg
DMI) tended to be improved with higher DCAD.
• The recommended target DCAD is -10 to -15
meq/100g dietary DM in prepartum and 22 to 44
meq/100g DM in postpartum to achieve the desired
changes in acid-base status and subsequent
increases in blood Ca.

26. Microminerals
• Chromium supplementation during the pre-calving
period may reduce insulin resistance and
subsequently decrease plasma NEFA, liver
triglyceride levels and improve glucose tolerance,
which may result in improved productivity in the
post-calving period (Hayirli et al. 2001).

27. Rumen modifiers
• Rumen modifiers act directly on rumen microbes,
altering the balance between the different microbial
populations and the proportions of the volatile fatty
acids (VFAs) they produce.
• Ionophore rumen modifiers include sodium
monensin and lasalocid. Antibiotic rumen modifiers
include virginiamycin and tylosin.

28. • Sodium monensin primarily increase ruminal
propionate balance.
• Virginiamycin, Tylosin reduce lactic acid production.
• If a rumen modifier is used in the lactation diet, the
same rumen modifier should be used in the
transition diet pre-calving.

29. Buffers and other possible additives
• Though controlling the risk of acidosis is critical,
buffering using sodium bicarbonate is
contraindicated because of the very high DCAD of
the buffer. But buffers including sodium bicarbonate
are suitable to be fed after calving.
• Instead we can use magnesium oxide to which act as
a neutralising agent and also supply magnesium.
• Low DCAD buffering agents can be used.

30. Recommendations for transition cow diets
Nutrient
Total diet analysis (dry matter basis)
Far-off dry cows
(More than four
weeks pre-calving)
Transition cows
(Last four weeks
pre-calving)
Fresh cows (first
four weeks
post-calving)
Neutral Detergent Fibre %
(NDF)
> 36% > 36% > 32%
Physically effective NDF % 30% 25-30% >19%
Crude protein (CP) % >12% 14-16% 16-19%
Degradability of CP 80% 65-70% 65-70%
Metabolisable energy
intake per day (MJ)
90-100 100-120 160
Estimated energy density
(MJ ME / kg DM)
9-10 11 11.5-12
Starch % Up to 18% 18-22 22-24
Sugar % Up to 4% 4-6 6-8
Fat % 3% 4-5% 4-5%

31. Nutrient
Total diet analysis (dry matter basis)
Far-off dry cows
(More than four
weeks pre-calving)
Transition cows
(Last four weeks
pre-calving)
Fresh cows (first
four weeks post-
calving)
Calcium % 0.4% 0.4 to 0.6% 0.8 to 1.0%
Phosphorus % 0.25% 0.25 to 0.4% 0.4%
Magnesium % 0.3% 0.45% 0.3%
DCAD Meq/kg <150 <80 >250
Selenium mg/kg 0.3 0.3 0.3
Copper mg/kg 10 15 20
Cobalt mg/kg 0.11 0.11 0.11
Zinc mg/kg 40 48 48
Manganese mg/kg 12 15 15
Iodine mg/kg 0.6 0.6 0.6
Vitamin A iu/g 2000 3200 3200
Vitamin D iu/g 1000 Not determined 1000
Vitamin E iu/g 15 30 15

32. Risk level of feeds commonly used in
pre-calving transition diets for milk
fever
Low Moderate High
Low potassium molasses Maize silage High potassium molasses
Grains
Cereal hays (these can still
be high)
Pasture treated with
effluent
Most grain-based
byproducts
Whole cotton seed Legume pastures
Protein meals Sodium bicarbonate
Brewers grains

33. Approaches to transition feeding
Six commonly used approaches are:
a. Pasture / hay
b. Pasture / Hay / Anionic salts in fodder or water
c. Pasture / Hay / Grain-based concentrate
d. Pasture / Hay / Anionic salts / Concentrate
e. Pasture / Hay / Professionally formulated
commercially produced anionic transition supplement
(lead feed)
f. TMR / PMR (fully integrated transition diet)

34. Approach
Pasture /
hay only
Pasture / hay
+ anionic
salts in
fodder or
water
Pasture /
hay + grain /
concentrate
Pasture /
hay + grain /
Concentrate+
DIY anionic
salts
Pasture /
hay +
commercial
transition
supplement
(lead feed)*
Fully
integrated
transition
diet fed as
PMR or TMR
Rumen
Adaptation
– – ✔✔✔✔
✔✔✔–
✔✔✔✔
✔✔✔✔✔ ✔✔✔✔✔
Positive metabolic
Energy balance
– – ✔✔✔ ✔✔✔✔ ✔✔✔✔ ✔✔✔✔✔
Positive Metabolic
Protein balance
– – ✔ ✔✔
✔✔✔–
✔✔✔✔
✔✔✔✔✔
Milk fever control – ✔– ✔✔ – ✔✔✔ ✔✔✔✔✔ ✔✔✔✔✔
Other metabolic
disease control
– – ✔✔ ✔✔✔✔ ✔✔✔✔✔ ✔✔✔✔✔
Improved animal
health
– ✔✔ ✔✔ ✔✔✔
✔✔✔–
✔✔✔✔
✔✔✔✔✔
Improved milk
Production
– ✔ ✔✔ ✔✔✔
✔✔✔–
✔✔✔✔
✔✔✔✔✔
Improved fertility – ✔ ✔✔ ✔✔
✔✔✔–
✔✔✔✔
✔✔✔✔✔
Overall
effectiveness
– ✔✔ ✔✔
✔✔–
✔✔✔
✔✔✔–
✔✔✔✔
✔✔✔✔✔

35. Disease prevalence
Disease
No
transition
feed
Anionic
salts
Grain
Grain +
anionic
salts
Commercial
transition
supplement
Milk fever 5% 4% 5% 4% 2.25%
S/clinical
milk fever
40% 32% 40% 32% 10%
Ketosis 5% 5% 3.75% 3.75% 2.5%
S/clinical
ketosis
10% 10% 7.5% 7.5% 5%
RFM 10% 7% 7.5% 6.5% 5%
Lameness 10% 10% 5% 5% 5%
LDA 2% 2% 1% 1% 0.5%

36. Hormones involved in establishing
lactation
• Progesterone and oestrogens: Decrease in plasma
progesterone levels that occurs at calving is a key
stimulus for lactogenesis. Oestrogen levels increase
rapidly in the last week of gestation and may play an
important role in the initiation of lactation.
• Prolactin and placental lactogen: Prolactin is
important to the development of the mammary gland
prior to lactation in cows

37. • Insulin and glucagon: These hormones play a central
role in the homeostatic control of glucose.
• Somatotropin: Somatotropin plays a key lactogenic role
in bovine and this hormone is the most important
hormonal determinant of increased milk yield in cattle.
• Thyroid hormone: Thyroid hormone has a lactogenic
function either when supplied orally or when injected.
• Glucocorticoids: Glucocorticoids are important in the
initiation and maintenance of lactation.

38. Housing
• Deep straw bedding is preferred for close-up
cows, with 9-12 m² of space per cow.

39. Feed space
• The minimum feed space per cow is 70 cm,
preferably more in systems without vertical dividers
between cows like post and rail feeders, because
dominant cows push subordinate cows out of the
way more easily.
• Again 40% extra space of the average expected
occupancy is needed.

40. Group moves and social stress
• Group or individual moves should be reduced to a
minimum.
• Ideally cows are not moved more than once a week
as each move requires the cow to familiarize herself
with the surroundings and re-establish the pecking
order.

41. Body Condition Scoring
• Over-conditioned cows at calving have an increased
risk of developing periparturient disease and are
less fertile in the subsequent lactation.
• The aim during the dry period is to maintain or only
slightly (< 0.5) increase BCS.

42. Effective monitoring of fresh cows

43. Conclusions
1. Protein Needs:
In transition period primiparous cows require dietary
protein concentration at 14 to 16 % of total DM or 1100-
1200 g/d of MP, and multiparous cows require at 12 % of
total DM or 1200-1400 g/d.
2. Carbohydrates:
At the end of gestation 35 % NDF in the total DM and in
postpartum transition period 28 to 32 % NDF in the total
DM. Following the transition period 26 %

44. 3. Fat:
Feeding 225 and 454 grams (1/2 to 1 lb) of fat per
cow/day is advantageous.
4. Minerals:
Magnesium 0.4 % of the DM in pre and post partum
feeding. Calcium 0.6% in prepartum and 0.8-1% post
partum. DCAD should be less than zero pre-fresh,
highly positive post-fresh.

45. THANK YOU
Vishnu Vardhan Reddy.P
TVM/2015-029