‘The Moovet’, Eamon O’Connell, on the common ailments on dairy farms since the onset of calving

‘The Moovet’ Eamon O’Connell joins EmmaLouise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast with his insights into the common ailments he has seen on dairy farms since the onset of calving. Eamon explains that the main call outs in early February are to assist calving and treatment of milk fever. He recommends that farmers allow cows time for birth to progress naturally - two hours from when the bubble appears. Eamon also comments on the increasing level of milk fever in early lactations and explains the reasons for this may include the level of magnesium may not be sufficient in the dry cow diet, the demand for calcium in high volume cows at the onset of lactation and cows’ inability to mobilise calcium from their skeleton. He recommends that farmers take proactive measures to minimise milk fever because it is a gateway disease to other ailments such as ketosis, displaced abomasum, retained cleanings and high SCC/mastitis. For more from the Moovet visit Instragram.com/TheMoovet For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/ The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com