Grass tetany is caused by low levels of magnesium in the blood and normally strikes in late spring during peak lactation. Join Dr. Phillip Lancaster and Dr. Brad White as they discuss multiple ways to combat grass tetany in cattle herds.
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2:41 Lameness; is it all foot rot?
10:58 Factors Impacting Birth Weight
17:09 Research Round-Up
Guest: Rachel Brown Master and Vet Student
For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on Twitter at @The_BCI, Facebook, and Instagram at @ksubci. Check out our website, ksubci.org. If you have any comments/questions/topic ideas, please send them to bci@ksu.edu. You can also email us to sign up for our weekly news blast! Don’t forget if you enjoy the show, please go give us a rating!
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We’ve all had cows get out, but it’s especially frustrating when they get into things they aren’t supposed to. Check out what happened in this case when a girl’s night out took a turn for the worst…
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2:54 – Male Fertility
11:32 – Value Proposition Of Reproduction Technology
17:30 – Genomic Selection
Guest: Dr. Clay Briener, Veterinary for Cross Country Genetics
For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on Twitter at @The_BCI, Facebook, and Instagram at @ksubci. Check out our website, ksubci.org. If you have any comments/questions/topic ideas, please send them to bci@ksu.edu. You can also email us to sign up for our weekly news blast! Don’t forget if you enjoy the show, please go give us a rating!
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When treating cattle for bovine respiratory disease, it is difficult to know whether or not the treatment will be successful. Join Dr. Brian Lubbers and Dr. Brad White as they discuss a paper focused on lung lesions and the affect they have on relapse rate and growth performance.
View the discussed paper here: Association of lung lesions measured by thoracic ultrasonography at first diagnosis of bronchopneumonia with relapse rate and growth performance in feedlot cattle
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Welcome to BCI Cattle Chat! Please click on any links below to be taken to sources mentioned in the podcast. Keep an eye out for news regarding the podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
2:43 Grass Tetany
11:29 Hidden Operational Costs
17:06 Listener Question: Calf is Not Doing Well
For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on Twitter at @The_BCI, Facebook, and Instagram at @ksubci. Check out our website, ksubci.org. If you have any comments/questions/topic ideas, please send them to bci@ksu.edu. You can also email us to sign up for our weekly news blast! Don’t forget if you enjoy the show, please go give us a rating!
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The nutritional value of forage changes throughout the growing season and changes in crude protein and digestibility are often discussed. However, other nutrients also change in forage throughout the growing season such as vitamin A. Vitamin A is a dietary essential nutrient, meaning that the animal cannot synthesize it, important for vision, immune function, and reproduction. The estimated vitamin A requirement for gestating cows, lactating cows, and growing calves is 1,270, 1,770, and 1,000 IU/lb dry feed or 27, 38, and 21 IU/lb body weight. Thus, a 1300-lb spring calving cow would need to consume 50,000 IU from March to October and 35,000 from October to March.
The vitamin A content of forages is not equal across species or locations. Figure 1 illustrates the vitamin A content of forages in Ohio and North Carolina. Fescue pasture easily meets the nutritional requirements of gestating and lactating cows, but alfalfa, fescue, and orchardgrass hay may be marginal to deficient. Additionally, growing native prairie grasses exceed the Vitamin A requirement of beef cows, but dormant forages are deficient (Figure 2). Thus, vitamin A supplementation is probably not necessary during the grazing season to meet the current nutritional requirements, but dry conditions can significantly decrease vitamin A in grazed forage.
Beef cows can store vitamin A in their liver for 4 to 6 months and so may be able to go through the fall with minimal supplementation. We have little information on the amount of vitamin A necessary to build up liver stores and, thus, summer mineral supplements often contain enough vitamin A to meet the current requirements. There is little chance of toxicity problems with over feeding vitamin A.
Vitamin A needs to be supplemented from late fall through early spring until cows are grazing green pastures. A vitamin and mineral supplement with a target intake of 4 oz/head/day should contain 150,000 to 200,000 IU/lb of vitamin A.
Changing vitamin A content of forages throughout the year, the species of forage, and the storage method and time is important to consider when evaluating vitamin and mineral supplements. Work with your veterinarian or nutritionist to make sure the supplementation program is adequate, but not overly costly.
When you find a down cow, it can be easy to assume she is sick, but what if she isn’t showing any sickness signs? She’s bright, alert, and responsive, but the problem is that she can’t stand. Dr. Matt Mesiner and Dr. Brad White talk through this case on Bovine Science with BCI.
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1:32 – -Listener Question – Daylight and Breeding for Cows
Reference Article
6:11 National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) Update
10:39 Economic Questions
17:01 Electric Fencing for Grazing
For more on BCI Cattle Chat, follow us on Twitter at @The_BCI, Facebook, and Instagram at @ksubci. Check out our website, ksubci.org. If you have any comments/questions/topic ideas, please send them to bci@ksu.edu. You can also email us to sign up for our weekly news blast! Don’t forget if you enjoy the show, please go give us a rating!
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A common question we get asked is what to do about open two year olds. Should a producer keep or cull them? Dr. Bob Larson answers questions about cost breakdowns and more on this episode of Herd Health.
To see the spread sheet referenced in the episode, visit our Calculators page.
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