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Doctor Grass – Not all it’s cracked
up to be?
On wet miserable February days, farmers, vets and no doubt cows
yearn for turnout day. At that point in the year, Doctor Grass seems
to be just what is needed to cure all ills but this year we’ve
continued to have problems.
Stillbirths, held cleansings, displaced abomasums, cysts, poor
conception rates and just disappointing production has dogged several
herds both dairy and beef.
In two instances blood samples showed low selenium to be a cause
of still births and possibly poor pregnancy rates in heifers. A
herd identified low blood calcium as a cause of held cleansings
and subsequent displaced abomasums. A further two herds on blood
sampling have been shown to be energy deficient.
Grazed grass is an unknown quantity, we rarely analyse its contents
and it probably would be a bit of a waste of time if we did. On
a warm sunny spring day you can expect grass to provide maintenance
plus 20 litres but if it rains the next day it will barely supply
maintenance! The dry matter of grass drops dramatically on a wet
day and in addition, cows would rather cower behind the wall than
eat.
So what’s the answer? Obviously the selenium situation can
be rectified with supplementation, but energy and calcium are trickier.
One client has decided to house his cattle again. This should mean
he’s got more control over the diet but its not always that
simple. Another client who houses all year round has in desperation
turned his dry cows out because “Things couldn’t get any
worse”.
Blood sampling is a useful tool to help diagnose a problem but
it cannot be relied upon solely. It is essential that the farmer,
nutritionist and the vet work as a team to sort these problems out.
It’s even better to use blood sampling to monitor the diet
so that action can be taken to prevent problems occurring. Edinburgh
University offers a service in which at least quarterly metabolic
profiles can be performed. Each test can follow a change in diet
so the new diet can be tweaked if necessary. Although a cost of
£480 per annum for this service appears expensive, when compared
to the losses experienced when things go wrong, it’s a very
small price to pay for peace of mind.
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