TRANSITION Boluses a Positive Experience for Five Star Dairy
“At Five Star Dairy we are currently milking 1100 cows. We are fortunate to have a dedicated workforce which includes an in house veterinarian, who also happens to be my wife, Dr. Jean Amundson. At Five Star we are constantly evaluating and making changes to our transition cow program. This includes monitoring of the ration for energy, mineral and fiber content. The close up, calving and post fresh pens are compost bedded for added cow comfort. Each cow in the transition area gets 30 inches of bunk space. All the barns at Five Star Dairy are tunnel ventilated for a more controlled environment.”
“About a year ago we added oral calcium boluses to our transition cow program to support normal blood calcium levels. In the past we mainly used intravenous calcium but this method of calcium treatment was time consuming and risky.”
“We decided to provide all cows in their second lactation or greater with the Transition™ Bolus. At first we were skeptical and critically examined fresh cow performance after administering the boluses. After nearly a year of use we are very satisfied with the Transition Bolus. They have given us very consistent performance and are much better priced than Bovikalc®. We have used the Transition Boluses on fat cows that have been dry for a long time and they made it through the freshening period without issues.”
“The ultimate test for the Transition Bolus was a Jersey cross that has been extremely problematic for years and struggled to maintain adequate blood calcium concentration. This year with the Transition Bolus she navigated through freshening without going down. In the last 700 cows that have freshened we have only had two displaced abomasums, and both of these cows had calved with twins.”
“In the past I never thought an incidence of DAs this low was possible. I think the Transition Bolus, along with other good management practices, can dramatically reduce the incidence of many transition challenges commonly seen in the dairy cow at freshening.”
Lee Jensen – Five Star Dairy, Elk Mound, WI