Evaluation of the prophylactic efficacy of oral calcium gel in preventing milk fever relapse and hypocalcemia in post-calved dairy cows

Nagarjuna D, Bhagwat VG* and Santhosh Kumar V

Oral Calcium Gel (OCG) is a promising prophylactic and supportive supplement for milk fever and Downer syndrome in postcalved dairy cows. This study evaluated the efficacy of OCG supplementing in improving rumen motility, feed intake, parturition/calving, Retention of Placenta (ROP), and product performance and safety. A total of 30 postcalved dairy cows were randomly divided into three groups: G1, cows selected immediately after calving (n = 7); G2, cows with milk fever (n = 14); and G3, cows with milk fever and Downer syndrome (n = 9). The cows in G1 and G2 were supplemented with OCG 300 g; 8 – 12 h apart; repeat 2 – 4 supplementation for 1 – 2 days only. Conversely, the cows in G3 were supplemented with 300 g of OCG + IV calcium injection; + 8 – 12 h apart; repeat 1 – 3 supplementation of OCG (300 g). OCG supplementation improved rumen motility, feed intake, parturition/calving, and ROP in all three groups. The mean product performance and safety scores were also good. Notably, OCG supplementation was effective in preventing ROP, which is a common postpartum complication in dairy cows. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that OCG supplementation is a promising prophylactic and supportive agent for milk fever and Downer syndrome in postcalved dairy cows.

Keywords:

Published on: Oct 31, 2023 Pages: 91-95

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/ijvsr.000142
CrossMark Publons Harvard Library HOLLIS Search IT Semantic Scholar Get Citation Base Search Scilit OAI-PMH ResearchGate Academic Microsoft GrowKudos Universite de Paris UW Libraries SJSU King Library SJSU King Library NUS Library McGill DET KGL BIBLiOTEK JCU Discovery Universidad De Lima WorldCat VU on WorldCat