?Hypocalcemia (low blood calcium) is one of the most common and costly health issues affecting transition dairy cows. The website, Animate-Dairy.com, has been relaunched by Phibro Animal Health Corporation to help dairy producers understand more about hypocalcemia and learn how to help reduce the risk through proper nutrition and management.
Clinical hypocalcemia (also known as milk fever) affects between 1 and 13 percent of all transition dairy cows and is characterized by cows having blood calcium levels below 5.5 mg/dl. Subclinical hypocalcemia (SCH) may affect greater than 50 percent of all transition dairy cows and is characterized by cows having total blood calcium concentrations between 5.6 and 8.5 mg/dl. Both forms can negatively impact the health, production and fertility of dairy cows, leading to decreased dairy farm profitability.
Key topics featured on the website include:
- Why transition cows are susceptible to hypocalcemia.
- How producers can determine the prevalence of SCH in their herds.
- Benefits of and guidelines for feeding a negative dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) diet, which has been demonstrated to be a highly effective way to help reduce the incidence of low blood calcium in transition dairy cows.
- The estimated return on investment for feeding a properly formulated negative DCAD diet.
- The best time for monitoring urine pH values.
The website also provides information about Animate®, a nutritional specialty product of Phibro Animal Health Corporation, which is formulated with recommended levels of chloride and sulfur for easy and effective negative DCAD ration formulation. Animate is one of the most concentrated commercially-available anionic products available to the dairy industry, allowing for simple diet formulation, as well as being highly palatable to maintain desired levels of dry matter intake.
About Phibro Animal Health CorporationPhibro Animal Health Corporation is a diversified global developer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of animal health and mineral nutrition products for use in the production of poultry, swine, cattle, dairy and aquaculture. For more information, visit pahc.com.
10.29.2015